Canada’s Quality Challenge
April 16, 2010
By Ken Snowdon, President, Snowdon & Associates Inc., Harrowsmith, Ontario
The private and public benefits of investing in PSE are recognized by governments across the country. Our reasonably high PSE participation rates (see StatCan, Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective, 2009) are increasingly heralded as a linchpin in Canada’s global competitiveness and a main instrument of internal social mobility. Given that many countries have latched onto the importance of improving PSE participation rates, it is encouraging to see that increasing PSE participation rates further is a common policy goal of provincial governments.
To the extent that many other countries are investing heavily in PSE, however, the reliance on the simple metric of participation rates masks the more important consideration; the quality of the learning experience – a metric that is considerably more difficult to measure than the quantity (participation). As provincial governments struggle with sustaining and improving the investment in higher education to increase the numbers of students, equally important is the need to recognize that what is critical to Canada’s long-term competitiveness and economic well-being is the quality of that educational experience.
This topic is of special importance at this juncture because governments are struggling with major financial challenges and looking for ways to do more with less. Hence suggestions such as introducing new “undergraduate” institutions, encouraging three-year degrees, expanding college degree granting authority, and creating a new Open University, have a level of appeal to those whose primary interest is focused solely on increasing participation – at the cheapest price possible.
The facts give pause to the appeal of the preceding suggestions. First, it is clear that the “best” undergraduate institutions in Canada (e.g., Mount Allison, Acadia, according to Maclean’s) spend as much or more per student than so-called “research universities".1 Second, in Ontario, the public cost of increasing enrolment in colleges or universities is, in fact, very similar2 although the public and private returns are considerably higher in the university sector. Finally, suggestions aimed at “cheaper options” to increase participation rely on greater government intervention to mandate differentiation, force collaboration and steer institutions to offer programs that, supposedly, provide more relevant labour market outcomes; the PSE sector is littered with the residue of central planner initiatives gone wrong.
The major problem with chasing the supposed “cheapest option” is that it distracts the public from the critical issue – the importance of investing in a quality higher education experience that provides the true comparative advantage for our graduates. What makes a quality learning environment? What factors contribute to student success? While “structures” may have some impact on the learning environment and benefits accruing to students the literature is very clear about what really matters on campus.
- Student involvement in the academic and non-academic systems of an institution;
- The nature and frequency of student contact with peers and faculty members;
- Interdisciplinary or integrated core curricula that emphasize making explicit connections across courses and among ideas and disciplines;
- Pedagogies that encourage active student engagement in learning and encourage application of what is being learned in real and meaningful settings;
- Campus environments that emphasize scholarship and provide opportunities for students to encounter different kinds of people and ideas; and
- Environments that encourage and support exploration, whether intellectual or personal.3
Increasing PSE participation rates is an important part of improving investment in our human capital. But in an era when many countries are investing heavily in all aspects of higher education, the provincial and federal government commitment to quality higher education must be strengthened. It is the quality of our graduates that will set Canada apart in the 21st century.
Next time – “The Quality Challenge: the Case for More Faculty”.
Snowdon and Associates Inc. provides consulting services to the higher education sector aimed at optimizing institutional resources by improving governance, strategic planning, resource allocation and organizational effectiveness.
1 See Maclean’s Rankings 2009.
2 Represents the operating grant for General Arts and Science Degrees, 1st year Arts and Science Honours degrees and Upper -year Honours Arts, as well as Commerce, Law, Fine Arts degrees.
3Pascarella, E.T., and Terenzini, P.T., 2005, How College Affects Students, Vol.2
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