the briefing room

A new book argues for substantial reform to Ontario’s higher-education system, including the introduction of a rare breed of institution in Canada: the teaching-oriented university.

“By several measures, Ontario currently has a good higher education system,” say Ian Clark, David Trick and Richard Van Loon in their new book, Academic Reform: Policy Options for Improving the Quality and Cost-Effectiveness of Undergraduate Education in Ontario. The authors likely did not mean, with that particular declaration, to damn with faint praise, although they do foresee serious trouble ahead. “There is now,” they write, “sufficient evidence about worrisome trends in the quality of learning and in the cost-effectiveness of the undergraduate teaching model in Ontario to warrant substantial reform.”

The book, a sequel to Academic Transformation: The Forces Reshaping Higher Education in Ontario (published in 2009), sets out the contours of the reform that the authors see as necessary. It was generating buzz within academic circles even before its official launch and will no doubt prove to be controversial. Aiming their book at policy makers, the authors state firmly that “this is a policy problem – requiring comprehensive action by the government – and not just a pedagogical challenge to be addressed within the academy.” Because many of the province’s higher education challenges are shared by other jurisdictions in North America and other OECD countries, much of their analysis, they say, also should be relevant to higher education policy outside Ontario… Read More