Higher Education in Canada

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

The papers and commentaries in this volume resulted from a John Deutsch
Institute Conference held at Queen’s University in early 2004. The
objectives of that conference were to identify major issues facing
postsecondary education in Canada; to provide some original research
studies to help inform public debate; and to provide a number of
concrete proposals for reform. The contributions are organized into six
sections: Key Issues in Postsecondary Education, Role of Colleges and
Universities and the Value of Postsecondary Education, Role of
Government in Financing and Overseeing Public Education, Problems Faced
by [the] Postsecondary Education Sector in Canada, Student Financing and
Postsecondary Education, and Wrap-Up Panel on Alternative Perspectives,
Directions and Innovations. All papers are accompanied by
bibliographies, but for some reason the editors did not insist that page
numbers be uniformly supplied with articles cited. There is no index.

With one or two exceptions, the authors are economists or
statisticians, and their papers reflect these perspectives. After a
great deal of statistical analysis, the authors of “Do the Maclean’s
Rankings Affect University Choice?” conclude that the ratings
“appear to have a strong effect on where students choose to apply to
(and end up), an effect most notable for universities in Maclean’s
medical/doctoral category, slightly less so, in Maclean’s other two
categories.” This paper reflects the volume’s focus on universities
(as opposed to other forms of higher education) and, even more
specifically, on Ontario’s experience.

A recurring theme is financing: what governments supply, how students
pay not only for tuition but for accommodation and incidentals, the
effectiveness of existing programs to help students, and new ideas that
could help them more. While this book does not succeed in identifying
all the problems faced by the postsecondary sector in Canada (or even in
discussing those problems, such as faculty recruitment and retention,
that are identified), it contains some provocative ideas, most
especially about student financing. For this reason alone, Higher
Education in Canada deserves to be read not only by policy-makers, but
by students and administrators in postsecondary institutions across
Canada.