Holistic assessment is an evaluative approach in which assessors work backwards from an overall appraisal of work to determine the criteria relevant to individual student responses. One of the strongest proponents of this approach in higher education is Royce Sadler, whose theoretical contributions over recent decades provide a strong conceptual…

In this article, we discuss the significance of English in the internationalization of higher education and international student mobility, using Kachru's (1985) Three Circles Model of World English. As education is one of the major forms of migration (Liu-Farrer, 2022; Borlongan, 2023) in the so-called 'age of migration' (cf. de Haas, Castles,…

This paper is concerned with long term strategic planning in higher education and focuses on Ontario's strategic mandate agreement (SMA) sector planning framework. In 2012, the province initiated its new SMA planning process by requiring all higher education institutions to propose their own strategies for their academic visions, missions, and…

This article responds to a university's anti-discrimination campaign, ostensibly launched to combat racism. Taking up poststructural principles and anchored in anti-racism literature, we employ a discourse analysis to examine the truth productions about racism circulated by the campaign, and the subject positions to which they give rise. We…

The ongoing pandemic, COVID-19, has demonstrated how quickly depictions of Asian individuals can shift from "model minority" to "yellow peril" during times of crisis. These times were particularly difficult for Asian postsecondary international students who were directly impacted by these shifting narratives, as many faced…

The purpose of this study is to explore whether happiness is the ultimate goal of higher education. In order to discuss this article systematically, four research questions are addressed. First, what are the concepts and principles of happiness in terms of religion and philosophy? Second, what are significant factors of happiness? Third, what are…

Work-integrated Learning (WIL) seeks to bridge the gap between 'scholastic' training and work. This study explores the ironic fact that the WIL discourse remains formed by the idea of "academia" and the "real world," an idea that in decisive ways creates this gap. A genealogical discourse analysis of how this idea operates in…

This paper analyzes the incentives induced by a formula to fund universities based primarily on enrolment. Using a simple game theoretical framework, we argue that the strategic behaviour induced by those formulas is to favour enrollment. We further argue that if the funding value differs by enrolment type, it introduces incentives to substitute…

This article discusses whether social success is the ultimate goal of higher education from a cross cultural approach. To review this study logically, three research questions are addressed. First, what are the concepts of success and social success? Second, for whom and what is social success? Last, is social success indeed the ultimate goal in…

Purpose: This paper is a thinking piece that examines, from the viewpoint of a Canadian pracademic, working through two definitions of pracademic, a collaborative relationship between academics and practitioners and a person engaged as a practitioner and researcher. Two aspects of a pracademics scholarship is discussed, wide awakeness and praxis.…

Community service-learning (CSL) programs are proliferating in Canadian higher education. University programs promote students' experiential learning in community as part of a course; students most often engage in unpaid work in not-for-profit organizations and reflect on that experience in relation to their classroom learning. However, programs…

Educational action research bridges the gap between theory and practice; where the learning design is the proposed hypothesis and the classroom is where it is field-tested by the teacher as researcher (McKernan, 2007; Stenhouse, 1975). Through this lens we see inquiry as a deepened understanding of one's own practice. The purpose of this study was…

Education policy continues to press for increased use of research evidence in decision-making, yet decades of research point to weak links between research and practice. We see evidence-informed improvement not as a problem with schools, but with a larger evidence-use ecosystem. As a step toward building and strengthening multidirectional paths…

This article is inspired by long-standing calls to address issues of anti-Indigenous racism and colonialism within higher education. There is a growing trend among universities around the globe to commit to principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), including discussions about how to Indigenize the academy. While EDI and Indigenization…

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…