Access to lifelong learning opportunities has long been discussed in terms of the economic benefits conferred by access to and engagement in further education by members of the labor force, particularly within the global knowledge economy. However, equitable access to lifelong education opportunities, particularly for low-skilled adults in the…

The Report of the Funding Model Review Panel claims to be about "Improving Equity and Accountability." It fails on both counts. The Panel's recommendations offer neither a blueprint for equity for students nor one for accountability by the province and school districts in providing services to students. If the funding model is to meet…

This article reports on a rigorous approach developed for calibrating the Evidence-Based Adequacy Model to suit the Ontario K-12 public education context, and the actual calibrations made. The four-step calibration methodology draws from expert consultations and a review of the academic literature. Specific attention is given to the technical…

The current fiscal environment has driven Canadian universities to become more entrepreneurial, seeking out and competing over new sources of funding. Despite such intensifying competition, little effort has been made to document the promotional tactics that Canadian universities are using to render themselves appealing to external audiences. This…

Mature higher education markets are drifting headfirst into the perfect storm. The convergence of shifting demographics, increased competition, decreased government funding, and the reality of a global marketplace has become the new normal in Canada, like in many other parts of the world. Most within the academy have come to accept this reality,…

In Fall 2008, the Ontario government's ability to maintain and enhance a school system was tested as the economy suffered one of its most extreme downturns. This paper discusses the action adopted by the government. The unique measures undertaken by the government to lessen the impact of the economic crisis on students' learning is highlighted.

Hosting international students has long been admired as one of the hallmarks of internationalization. The two major formative strands of internationalization in Canadian universities are development cooperation and international students. With reduced public funding for higher education, institutions are aggressively recruiting international…

Facing steep budget cuts and rising energy costs, many colleges are grappling with how to finance urgently needed, but capital intensive, energy efficiency upgrades on campus. One innovative approach, using return-oriented green revolving funds (GRFs), is a rapidly growing trend at colleges and universities. GRFs can invest in a variety of…

An Alberta school district that used a cost-recovery model to finance school services for 20 years is finding that the model produces unintended negative results. Some schools didn't spend this money on services but used it for other school operations. Some spent the money on external consultants. Professional relationships were damaged, and…

The article studies the differences in knowledge production between academic researchers. In this perspective, it attempts at first to answer the following question: what factors explain differences in knowledge production between Canadian researchers in natural sciences and engineering? After a presentation of some of the empirical evidence…

To leverage expertise and efficiencies in implementing educational technologies, higher education leaders often create centralized service organizations or inter-institutional partnerships. Defined as "academic collaborations," these organizations foster inter-institutional partnerships that share resources to increase institutional…

The British North America Act of 1867 mandates the education of Canadians as a provincial responsibility, although some funding comes from federal sources and municipalities share expenditures with provincial authorities. This paper summarizes a study that investigated effective methods of financing elementary and secondary education in Ontario.…

Outlines the development and implementation of performance indicators and performance funding in the higher education system of Alberta, Canada. Explains the model of organizational functioning that underlies performance funding and explores the effectiveness of performance funding in increasing goal attainment based on the literature and…

A computer-based model of the Ontario university system is presented that focuses on funding, faculty staffing, and faculty salaries from 1955 to 1995. Events in these areas are analyzed as consequences of interaction between a strongly self-equilibrating social system, the universities, and a massively disequilibrating external force, the…

This paper presents a model of the approaches open to government to ensure that early childhood services are affordable to families. We derived the model from a comparative literature review of affordability approaches taken by government, both in Australia and internationally. The model adds significantly to the literature by proposing a means to…