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There is a general tendency amongst policy and certain academic circles to assume that universities are simple strategic actors capable and willing to respond to a well-articulated set of regional demands. In reality, however,... more
There is a general tendency amongst policy and certain academic circles to assume that universities are simple strategic actors capable and willing to respond to a well-articulated set of regional demands. In reality, however, universities are extremely complex organizations that operate in highly institutionalized environments and are susceptible to regulative shifts, resource dependencies, and fluctuations in student numbers. Understanding universities’ contributions—and capacities to contribute—to regional development and innovation requires understanding these internal ynamics and how they interact with external environmental agents. Based on a comparative study across various national settings and regional contexts, the chapter highlights the types of tensions and volitions that universities face while attempting to fulfil their “third mission.” Building upon the existing literature and novel empirical nsights, the chapter advances a new conceptual model for opening the “black box” of the university-region interface and disentangling the impacts of purposive, political efforts to change universities’ internal fabrics and to institutionalize the regional mission.
Research Interests: Organizational Behavior, Economic Geography, Organizational Change, Higher Education, Organizational Culture, and 15 moreInstitutional Theory, Institutional Change, Assessment in Higher Education, Comparative Public Administration, Globalization And Higher Education, Comparative Public Policy, New Institutionalism, Higher Education Management, Higher Education Studies, Higher Education Policy, Entrepreneurship Education in Universities, Institutions, City and Regional Planning, Comparative International Education, and Knowledge management in public sector
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The central arguments in this book focus on the notion of a disengagement compact between students and faculty within Canadian universities. Students have become disengaged from the educational experience and are missing out on the... more
The central arguments in this book focus on the notion of a disengagement compact between students and faculty within Canadian universities. Students have become disengaged from the educational experience and are missing out on the transformative possibilities of a high-quality liberal education. They are poorly prepared by secondary schools, and once they enter university only a minority devote the time necessary to prepare for classes. Grade inflation in schools and universities has reduced the standards of our educational system and decreased the role that grades have historically played in rewarding ability and hard work. The disengagement compact is the tacit agreement that students will do the minimum necessary to successfully complete their degree programs, and faculty will teach with low expectations of their underprepared students and award good grades for mediocre work. The authors, sociologists from the University of Western Ontario, have produced a thoughtful, well-written critique of the state of liberal education in Canadian universities. Their discussion of student disengagement, drawing on their analysis of a major survey administered to a large sample of Canadian and American students, is both revealing and, for those of us who truly care about liberal education, downright scary. The authors have presented a provocative picture of a higher education system that has come to confuse training with education, that makes decisions that are
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This article is concerned with the differences in REB policy and application processes across Canada as they impact multi-jurisdictional, higher education research projects that collect data at universities themselves. Despite the guiding... more
This article is concerned with the differences in REB policy and application processes across Canada as they impact multi-jurisdictional, higher education research projects that collect data at universities themselves. Despite the guiding principles of the Tri-Council Policy Statement 2 (TCPS2) there is significant variation among the practices of Research Ethics Boards (REBs) at Canada’s universities, particularly when they respond to requests from researchers outside their own institution. The data for this paper were gathered through a review of research ethics applications at 69 universities across Canada. The findings suggest REBs use a range of different application systems and require different revisions and types of oversight for researchers who are not employed at their institution. This paper recommends further harmonization between REBs across the country and national-level dialogue on TCPS2 interpretations.
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In order to meet the demands in a cost-effective manner of an emerging knowledge society that is global in scope, structural higher education policy changes have been introduced in many countries with a focus on systemic and programmatic... more
In order to meet the demands in a cost-effective manner of an emerging knowledge society that is global in scope, structural higher education policy changes have been introduced in many countries with a focus on systemic and programmatic diversity. There has been an ongoing debate about institutional diversity in Ontario higher education, especially within the university sector, for at least five decades. This paper will provide insight into issues of quality, accessibility, and funding through the lens of the current policy debate about institutional diversity by using document and policy analysis, and by drawing on a number of semi-structured interviews with senior university and system-level administrators.
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A survey of faculty participation in paid consulting arrangements in Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology reveals that 34% were involved in at least one project during a specified one-year period. There was significant... more
A survey of faculty participation in paid consulting arrangements in Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology reveals that 34% were involved in at least one project during a specified one-year period. There was significant variation in participation by division of academic appointment and by gender. The authors suggest that further research should be undertaken concerning the nature and role of paid consulting in community colleges. A number of basic questions are raised in an attempt to induce further study on this important topic.
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Universities attempt to influence government policy through the input of interests to the political process. Given the importance of keeping legislators informed of university interests and activities, a study was conducted in 1986 to... more
Universities attempt to influence government policy through the input of interests to the political process. Given the importance of keeping legislators informed of university interests and activities, a study was conducted in 1986 to obtain data from Members of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly on the adequacy of information provided by the University of Manitoba. The purpose of this paper is to report the major findings of that study, including the types of information requested by legislators, and to discuss three themes which emerged from the interviews: that the University should move slowly in its attempts to improve relations with legislators, that secondary relations should be strengthened, and that the University should present its case in a more positive fashion.
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This paper discusses recent reforms to university governance and international trends in terms of changes to the academic profession to illuminate how both of these shifts are decreasing the role of the professoriate in academic... more
This paper discusses recent reforms to university governance and international trends in terms of changes to the academic profession to illuminate how both of these shifts are decreasing the role of the professoriate in academic decision-making. The author argues that there is a need to maintain the relative autonomy of public research universities in order to ensure that those with the appropriate expertise continue to be responsible for governing quality in higher education. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges to academic governance in public research universities and identifies a number of possible approaches to maintaining and strengthening academic self-governance.
Ontario higher education system has moved far and fast in the past decade. The early 1990s saw "modest modifications and structural stability." Since 1995, under a neo-liberal government in Ontario, major policy initiatives,... more
Ontario higher education system has moved far and fast in the past decade. The early 1990s saw "modest modifications and structural stability." Since 1995, under a neo-liberal government in Ontario, major policy initiatives, with objectives not unlike those already at large in western Europe and most of the United States, have quickly followed one another. The author proposes an explanation of the timing and dynamics of the Ontario reforms, describing the driving forces behind reform.
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ABSTRACT Over the last 15 years, the government of Ontario, Canada began seeking ways to deliver and expand higher education in a more cost effective and sustainable manner through the introduction of two major policy goals: greater... more
ABSTRACT Over the last 15 years, the government of Ontario, Canada began seeking ways to deliver and expand higher education in a more cost effective and sustainable manner through the introduction of two major policy goals: greater institutional differentiation and the expansion of student pathways. This paper will attempt to determine the compatibility of these two policy goals through a review of the relevant literature to determine if the policies are aligned from an efficiency and effectiveness, and public policy perspective. It will also identify a number of policy levers used in Ontario that may affect the extent of diversity and student pathways through document analysis, to assess their compatibility by making a limited use of the field of organisational theory as a lens to place the policies into context. It will also examine the extent to which various institutional types in Ontario have been engaged in student mobility and will compare and contrast the various strategies used to satisfy these public policy goals through textual analysis to highlight current successful institutional strategies that can be used by other jurisdictions. It will conclude with some key observations that the authors feel are necessary for either policy goal to succeed.
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Les sociétés du savoir ont de nombreuses exigences à l’égard des universités ; or il est suggéré que ces dernières répondraient plus adéquatement à ces exigences lorsqu’elles sont autonomes (Altbach et Balán, 2007). Cet article vise à... more
Les sociétés du savoir ont de nombreuses exigences à l’égard des universités ; or il est suggéré que ces dernières répondraient plus adéquatement à ces exigences lorsqu’elles sont autonomes (Altbach et Balán, 2007). Cet article vise à mettre en lumière diverses dimensions de l’encadrement du système universitaire québécois par l’État relativement à l’autonomie des établissements et à comparer la situation québécoise avec celle ayant cours en Alberta, en Colombie-Britannique, en Ontario et en Nouvelle-Écosse. Une analyse thématique réalisée sur 77 documents officiels (dont 29 au Québec) et sur les transcriptions de 93 entrevues (dont 30 au Québec) a permis d’identifier trois grandes dimensions de la gouvernance systémique, soit le cadre législatif et réglementaire, le statut comptable et les règles budgétaires, ainsi que les interventions du gouvernement dans la gestion interne des universités. L’analyse révèle que l’autonomie dont jouissent les universités varie d’une province à l...
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Canada is the only country in the OECD to not have a national strategy for international education. In 2011, the Canadian federal government announced plans to develop and launch Canada's first international education strategy,... more
Canada is the only country in the OECD to not have a national strategy for international education. In 2011, the Canadian federal government announced plans to develop and launch Canada's first international education strategy, including the creation of an advisory panel. The panel's 2012 report outlines a balanced strategy to increase international student recruitment while also supporting the international mobility of Canadian students. Coordination of international education policy within a highly decentralized federal system remains a core challenge. Key words: International branch campus, cross-border higher education, internationalization.
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The “double cohort,” a perhaps unfamiliar concept outside Ontario, Canada, has been a source of angst for tens of thousands of students, their parents, and the province’s postsecondary institutions since 1997. This concept refers to the... more
The “double cohort,” a perhaps unfamiliar concept outside Ontario, Canada, has been a source of angst for tens of thousands of students, their parents, and the province’s postsecondary institutions since 1997. This concept refers to the unique situation of two cohorts graduating from high school at the same time. The challenge of accommodating the double cohort in Ontario’s universities and colleges ultimately forced the government to fund a dramatic expansion of postsecondary education.
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Research Interests: Economics, Higher Education, Hybridity, Governance, Institutional Theory, and 15 moreAustralia, Hybridization, Assessment in Higher Education, Comparative Public Administration, Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education, Comparative Public Policy, Higher Education Management, Higher Education Studies, Higher Education Policy, Decentralization, Canada, Education Systems, Hybrid Organizations, Access to Higher Education, and Decentralized education governance
GLEN A. JONES THE STRUCTURE OF UNIVERSITY GOVERNANCE IN CANADA: A POLICY NETWORK APPROACH 1. INTRODUCTION Research on higher education governance in the United States and Canada has tended to emphasize the importance of a number of ...
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How do we govern quality in higher education? “Governance” and “quality” are wicked problems in higher education policy, and there is frequently a disconnect between the formal governance structures and decision-making processes of the... more
How do we govern quality in higher education? “Governance” and “quality” are wicked problems in higher education policy, and there is frequently a disconnect between the formal governance structures and decision-making processes of the university, and the discussion of quality in terms of student learning. Drawing on recent studies of university governance in Canada (and elsewhere), the author argues that institutional governance arrangements often avoid issues of quality in teaching and learning. The author argues that student learning must be positioned as a core objective within institutional and system-level governance arrangements, and that it is only through in-depth institutional and system-level engagement in the discussion of educational quality that sustained and broadly-based quality improvement can take place. Enhancing quality must be a key objective of governance reform.
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Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the higher education policy in Ontario. The provincial government has continued to limit competition in the Ontario university sector by controlling the number of institutions that have the... more
Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the higher education policy in Ontario. The provincial government has continued to limit competition in the Ontario university sector by controlling the number of institutions that have the authority to grant degrees, by allocating funds using a formula mechanism that is relatively insensitive to enrolment growth, and by regulating tuition fees. While the government continues to provide the bulk of its financial support to universities in the form of general operating grants, there has been an increase in the use of targeted funding mechanisms. There have been no recent changes in government policy concerning university accountability. As the universities are autonomous corporations viewed as public utilities, it is the institution, and not the state, that is generally assigned responsibility for responding to the changing needs of society. The Ontario higher education system represents an example of a relatively healthy, publicly funded post-secondary system with a high level of institutional autonomy, little direct government intervention, and limited competition.
This chapter is an analysis of job satisfaction reported by full-time academic staff in Canadian universities as part of the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) project. We begin this chapter by providing a brief overview of the context of... more
This chapter is an analysis of job satisfaction reported by full-time academic staff in Canadian universities as part of the Changing Academic Profession (CAP) project. We begin this chapter by providing a brief overview of the context of academic work in Canadian universities, followed by a description of the methodology for the survey of university academics that provided the foundation for this analysis. We then report and discuss study findings related to overall job satisfaction, provide an analysis of academic staff satisfaction with a range of workplace and institutional factors, and explore differences in reported satisfaction by demographic characteristics of academic staff. We summarise our findings and offer a number of conclusions in the final section of this chapter.
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The authors of the thirteen core essays in this volume share a common belief that issues of governance are central to our understanding of higher education and the evolution of these extraordinarily complex institutions and systems. Each... more
The authors of the thirteen core essays in this volume share a common belief that issues of governance are central to our understanding of higher education and the evolution of these extraordinarily complex institutions and systems. Each chapter frames the analysis of higher education governance in a somewhat different way, in part because our authors are attempting to understand governance issues in quite different contexts and they are exploring issues at different levels of the higher education system. While the operational definition of governance varies somewhat by author, the contributors to this volume share a common understanding that governance focuses on a series of questions related to the determination of what higher education is or should be in a specific context: Who decides? How do they decide? What do they decide? As Michael Reed, V. Lynn Meek and Glen Jones note in their introductory chapter, another common element in how our contributors have conceptualised governance “is the notion of the relationship or dynamic interaction of bodies and groups operating at different levels of a higher education system.”
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... His teaching and research interests combine economics, finance and governance of colleges ... such as funding methodologies, student financial support, marketisation, financial management and per ... training seminars and... more
... His teaching and research interests combine economics, finance and governance of colleges ... such as funding methodologies, student financial support, marketisation, financial management and per ... training seminars and consultancies in the area of higher education policy and ...
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This article has two major objectives: to describe the structure of the student movement in Canada and the formal role of students in higher education governance, and to describe and analyze the ‘Maple Spring,’ the dramatic mobilization... more
This article has two major objectives: to describe the structure of the student movement in Canada and the formal role of students in higher education governance, and to describe and analyze the ‘Maple Spring,’ the dramatic mobilization of students in opposition to proposed tuition fee increases in Quebec that eventually led to a provincial election and the fall of the government. Based on an analysis of documents, news reports, and a small number of interviews with student leaders, the article will analyze what became the largest student protest movement in Canadian history.
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... The team was composed of Michael Andrews, Ron Baker, Kathryn Bindon, Sheila Brown, David Cameron. Brian Christie, John Dennison. Janet Donald, Sandy Gregor, Gail Hilyer, Ted Holdaway. Gordon Mowat, Bill Muir, Aron Senkpiel, Michael... more
... The team was composed of Michael Andrews, Ron Baker, Kathryn Bindon, Sheila Brown, David Cameron. Brian Christie, John Dennison. Janet Donald, Sandy Gregor, Gail Hilyer, Ted Holdaway. Gordon Mowat, Bill Muir, Aron Senkpiel, Michael Skolnik. and Paul Wilson. ...
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This paper provides a reflective analysis of the evolution of higher education as a field of scholarship in Canada. The first professors of higher education in Canada were appointed in the mid-1960s and, by the early-1970s, a small... more
This paper provides a reflective analysis of the evolution of higher education as a field of scholarship in Canada. The first professors of higher education in Canada were appointed in the mid-1960s and, by the early-1970s, a small higher-education research community had emerged, with the creation of a national association and a scholarly journal. Several universities developed graduate programs specializing in higher education but there was little growth in these programs in the 1970s and 1980s and there were relatively few full-time faculty associated with these programs. There has been a growth in higher education programs, faculty and activity since 2000, though the field has become increasingly fragmented with the growth of professionalization and global higher education research networks. Following a review of three major higher education research initiatives, the author concludes that a greater emphasis needs to be placed on research infrastructure, especially mechanisms for storing and sharing research reports and materials emerging from increasingly diverse research communities.
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Universities are under increasing pressure to help promote socio-economic growth in their local communities. However until now, no systematic, critical attention has been paid to the factors and mechanisms that currently make this process... more
Universities are under increasing pressure to help promote socio-economic growth in their local communities. However until now, no systematic, critical attention has been paid to the factors and mechanisms that currently make this process so daunting. In Universities and Regional Development, scholars from Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia critically address this knowledge gap, focusing on policy, organization, and the role of individual actors to uncover the challenges facing higher education institutions as they seek to ...
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The reported study focused on tenured and tenure-track academics with ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor of 18 Canadian universities. Based on the Canadian CAP (Changing Academic Profession) survey the general... more
The reported study focused on tenured and tenure-track academics with ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor of 18 Canadian universities. Based on the Canadian CAP (Changing Academic Profession) survey the general profile of the academic profession in Canada is described in terms of sociodemographic variables (gender, marital status, ethnicity, parents’ educational attainment, etc.), academic experience and perspectives on their work (academic attitudes, institutional and disciplinary affiliation). Canadian faculty present a strong international character and look at teaching and research as compatible.
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In order to fulfill their missions, research universities must maintain conditions and capacity for knowledge production and dissemination, while responding to the expectations of governments, other stakeholders, and/or markets. That... more
In order to fulfill their missions, research universities must maintain conditions and capacity for knowledge production and dissemination, while responding to the expectations of governments, other stakeholders, and/or markets. That universities succeed in this quest is vital, not only for their own future as organizations but also for the benefit of current and future generations of students, stakeholders, and society at large. We sought to contribute to the understanding of how higher education institutions and systems rise to the challenge of achieving and sustaining relative institutional autonomy by conducting a comparative case study of the governance of six major universities in five provinces in Canada. This article presents our findings with respect to provincial oversight of the case universities. We found that the case universities appeared to be coming from and to remain at different points on a state supervision/autonomy continuum, but all appeared to be experiencing g...
In March, 2006, York University (Toronto, Ontario) hosted a conference on “Internationalizing Canada’s Universities: Practices, Challenges and Opportunities”. The conference provided a unique forum for a national discussion of... more
In March, 2006, York University (Toronto, Ontario) hosted a conference on “Internationalizing Canada’s Universities: Practices, Challenges and Opportunities”. The conference provided a unique forum for a national discussion of internationalization in Canadian higher education and involved representatives from governments, institutions, and a range of interest groups. Our objective in this article is to provide an overview of the core themes that emerged during the York conference.