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David Trick – Precedents for the unprecedented (part 2): The year the music stopped

Last week I looked at whether Ontario’s experience with the double cohort in 2003 could offer some lessons for the coming years. If large numbers of students decide to take a gap year this September and enrol in September 2021, the planning processes adopted in 2003 might bring some order to an enrolment surge. Sadly, Ontario […]

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David Trick – Finding precedents for the unprecedented (part 1): A new double cohort?

Current circumstances have caused us at HEQCO to think about whether anything in the history of Ontario higher education might be remotely relevant today. Historical analogies can give comfort that, having solved problems in the past, we can solve comparable problems now. Ken Steele has made an interesting analogy: If many students take the coming academic […]

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David Trick and Jackie Pichette — Creating pathways, removing roadblocks

Ontarians with a university or college credential earn more, on average, than those without, and they tend to lead longer, healthier lives. This is why, over the years, Ontario has implemented policies aimed at increasing educational attainment, and part of the reason why the province’s postsecondary attainment rate is among the highest in the world. […]

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David Trick and Jackie Pichette — Strengthening numeracy skills in university and college students: What’s the best way forward?

What can be done to improve numeracy skills among Ontario PSE students? Our workshop participants had some great ideas, like integrating more problem-based learning in university and college programs (and also in high school), designating numeracy faculty leads who can spread knowledge and facilitate communities of practice, creating a repository of numeracy modules and resources that all Ontario institutions can access and incorporate into their programs, and developing and sharing relevant assessments to continuously improve numeracy teaching and learning.

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David Trick – Taking Apprenticeship Seriously

David Trick, Guest blogger Having occasionally chided my friends at universities and colleges for not knowing enough about each other’s systems, I should confess to one of my own blind spots: I have not paid enough attention to apprenticeship.  For historical and institutional reasons, apprenticeship in Ontario is often seen as being outside the realm […]

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David Trick – A happy 50th birthday to Ontario’s MTCU

  Guest blogger: David Trick Amid all the anniversary celebrations in higher education in recent years, one more deserves to be noted: May 8 is the 50th birthday of Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. Until 1964, the Premier was in effect the minister responsible for Ontario’s universities. Premier John Robarts had an Advisory […]

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David Trick – Robarts’ Plan for Higher Education Goes Golden

Fifty years ago tomorrow, on March 21, 1963, Premier John Robarts announced the plan that shaped Ontario’s higher education system as we now know it. His statement was delivered as part of routine proceedings in the Legislature, book-ended by statements about LCBO outlets and the Ontario Food Council.  He spoke for about an hour.  One […]