Parental Education and Postsecondary Attainment: Does the Apple Fall Far From the Tree?

First-generation students less likely to go to postsecondary, report finds A sizeable gap exists between the PSE completion rate of first-generation students and those whose parents attained a postsecondary credential, despite years of government policies meant to improve access for these and other underrepresented students, finds a new report by the Higher Education Quality Council […]

Minding the Gap? Ontario Postsecondary Students’ Perceptions on the State of Their Skills

Ontario students perceive gap between skills learned in postsecondary and those needed in the workplace Postsecondary students perceive a gap between the skills they think they will need in their future careers and those they are developing while in university or college, according to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario […]

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Harvey P. Weingarten — Skills in postsecondary education: Where to now?

We recently published a series of reports describing the skill levels of entering and graduating postsecondary students. The most telling observation made in those reports is that too few students are graduating with superior literacy and numeracy skills and too many — about one in four — are graduating with literacy and numeracy levels that […]

Education and Labour Market Impacts of the Future to Discover Project

Higher PSE participation rates yield ‘substantial’ effects on underrepresented students A long-running research study looking at ways to increase access to postsecondary education of underrepresented students found that enhanced career-education programs and promises of financial support made as early as high school boosted participation rates. And higher participation rates yielded substantial economic returns to the […]

On Test: Skills, Summary of Findings from HEQCO’s Skills Assessment Pilot Studies

One-quarter of graduating students score below adequate on measures of literacy, numeracy One of the first major attempts to measure employment-related skills in university and college students on a large scale shows that students are experiencing some gains in literacy, numeracy and critical-thinking scores over the course of their undergraduate studies. Yet, one in four […]

Competency-based Education: Driving the Skills-measurement Agenda

Rise of competency-based education could help bridge ‘skills gap’ With increased pressure on the postsecondary education system to prepare students for a changing workforce, competency-based education (CBE) is emerging as a promising model for preparing graduates to meet employer demands. A new report published by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, Competency-based Education: Driving the […]

Barriers to Work-integrated Learning Opportunities

High demand exists for WIL programs, but barriers still keep certain students out Although much has been done to increase access to work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences in postsecondary education, there are still many opportunities to make WIL programs more accessible to students, argues a new report by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). […]

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It’sNotAcademic – The podcast: Episode nine with Val Walker

Welcome to the latest episode of It’sNotAcademic the podcast. It’s an often heard complaint. University and college graduates lack the skills that employers seek. They don’t have what it takes to thrive in today’s rapidly changing workplace. To look at this issue, the Business Council of Canada brought together representatives from some of Canada’s largest […]

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OUSA’s Victoria Lewarne and Marc Gurrisi — PSE’s ‘Skills Awareness Gap’

Despite the fact that we are a student and a recent graduate of a postsecondary program, we admittedly have difficulty articulating our skills and competencies. And we’re not the exception. While we can confidently state that we have comprehensive reading and writing skills, this only skims the surface. Competencies such as critical thinking, problem solving, […]