In my last blog, I argued that the quality of a postsecondary education could be measured by the degree to which it met academic requirements or needs. I also argued that one non-negotiable and essential requirement or need of a postsecondary education is that students receive an education that equips them with the knowledge and […]
When I started working at the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) I asked the obvious question, given the title of the organization: What is quality? I became even more invested in this question when I discovered that the legislation that created HEQCO required us to advise the government on the quality of Ontario’s […]
Without the money for a trip around the world, would you expect to go? Without the expectation of taking the trip, would you bother purchasing a guide book, packing your bags or booking flights? It’s a crude analogy, but consider the parallels for high school students and postsecondary education. If students don’t believe they have […]
The Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) is currently undergoing a number of changes aimed at increasing transparency and access for students. In the first phase of its transformation, OSAP bundled existing grants into a single Ontario Student Grant, making tuition effectively free for eligible low-income students. Phase two (2018-2019) will roll out net-tuition billing, whereby […]
It isn’t exactly news that skills matter. A centrepiece of Ontario government policy are recommendations from its Highly Skilled Workforce panel that promote the importance of skills in the province’s future economy. The federal finance minister’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth recently recommended the creation of a national, independent agency — the FutureSkills Lab —dedicated […]
In April, I will have the privilege of facilitating a panel at HEQCO’s conference, Rethinking Access: when non-traditional is the new normal. The conference topic excites me because it speaks to the priorities that students have been highlighting for some time. For the past four years I’ve worked with student governments at Ontario universities. From […]
Welcome to the latest episode of ItsNotAcademic: The podcast – education conversations from HEQCO. The Rethinking Access conference is taking place April 19 and 20 and one of the recurring themes that runs through the panel discussions is the role of early intervention programs and strategies. By the time they graduate from high school, many […]
Categories
Toni Morgan – Wow, Harvard! But How?
“Harvard is such a big goal. How did you do it?” Can I be honest here? I used to hate that question. Not that it’s a bad question. It’s just that open-ended questions about my life often result in a response that starts as an enlightened monologue about determination and chutzpah and quickly devolves into […]
Recently, the federal finance minister’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth recommended the creation of a national organization — the FutureSkills Lab — to serve as a laboratory for the development and measurement of skills. This proposed laboratory represents a significant and progressive advance that can increase Canada’s global competitiveness and offer its citizens the economic […]