Yale Canada Inc.

[cgarrett]

i haven't seen much in the media about this... yet. unfortunately, i don' think many people are aware that this is happening as the current b.c. liberal government have stopped issuing press releases for such things.

http://www.caut.ca/en/bulletin/issues/2004...privateuniv.asp

essentially, the b.c. liberals have begun to provide "university" status to the private sector. its the end of higher educational institutions in canada as we know them in favor of the american system.

this is indeed a major social change that canadians seem completely unaware of. when someone comes from an american university then the question is always "which one?". because any "school" in the u.s. can use the word "university". so, in the u.s. there is a hierarchy of "universities" where the most well known and respected are also the most expensive and inaccessible. its their business model to be so.

when people come from canadian universities, then like so many other countries, there is no question as to the quality of the education received. because all universities must meet strict quality assurance objectives regarding their curriculum throughout the country.

the reasons that our public universities will not survive is not related to their quality but because of their implications to "free trade" as described in this article.

http://www.bctf.bc.ca/social/globalization...Agreements.html

its only a matter of time before the subsidizing of these institutions is brought to a halt by "free trade" challenges from the private sector.

[maplesyrup]

cgarrett....good topic. I remember back in my university days a couple of conflicting, at least for me, thoughts:

1 How conservative our academic instutions really are (so I don't think our university problems originated with free trade).

2 How privileged I was to be attending a Canadian university, so we need to protect them as much as we possibly can, and I agree that education needs to be rescinded and/or excluded from any trade agreements.

[August1991]

when people come from canadian universities, then like so many other countries, there is no question as to the quality of the education received. because all universities must meet strict quality assurance objectives regarding their curriculum throughout the country.

That is simply false.

There are many types of universities in Canada from large to small, good to bad. Their reputations vary and competition for entry too. Macleans does a survey and rating.

Canada's modern universities are a creation of the 1960s and most universities depend on government money. This leads to a series of problems.

Most university administrators becomes government lobbyists always asking for more cash.

Universities have become excessively bureaucratic and weighed down with administrative overhead.

Canada's universities are generally large and inefficient.

Typical of most of the public sector, university employees are generally unionized. This creates another hindrance to change.

The small, private four-year liberal arts college is a feature of the US barely existent in Canada. Because of such colleges, Americans are among the most educated in the world with the highest percentage of adults holding a university degree.

In Canada, subsidized higher education amounts to a transfer from poor people to middle class children.

Eighty-four percent of all adults ages 25 and over had completed high school and 26 percent had completed abachelor’s degree or more.

This is from the US Census of 2000.

Of Canadians 15 years or older, about 11% have a bachelor's degree. Statistics Canada 2001 Census

[maplesyrup]

August1991.....the problem with those statistics is that probably half the American College Degrees are worthless (I.E. basketweaving in Florida).

And why do universities always have to be efficient? Since when has efficiency become a university's madate?

[August1991]

August1991.....the problem with those statistics is that probably half the American College Degrees are worthless (I.E. basketweaving in Florida).

You are being a smug Canadian, MS.

The US has regional, private accrediting organizations. But the best form of "accreditation" is the value of a diploma on the labour market. Students do not spend time and money to obtain a diploma that indicates at most an ability to weave baskets.

[maplesyrup]

August1991.....some of the American universities I am sure are right up there with the best ones in the world like Oxford, LSE, Cambridge, etc., The Ivy League Schools and a few others. But Canada has a marvelous education system, and similar to our health care system, it should not be denegrated as both are far superior to the American way! Sure Canada's system has problems but you sound so down on our country, it seems you would be much happier in the US.

[Guest eureka]

August! Perhaps in your links there is an explanation, but I hardly think that a comparison between those over 25 in the US and over 15 in Canada coud produce comparable percentages.

Naturally, the percentage of adults over 25 with qualifications would be far higher than that of over 15s in the whole population of that age up.

[Slavik44]

August! Perhaps in your links there is an explanation, but I hardly think that a comparison between those over 25 in the US and over 15 in Canada coud produce comparable percentages.

Naturally, the percentage of adults over 25 with qualifications would be far higher than that of over 15s in the whole population of that age up.

I figured that was just a typo, because that is like saying

Canadians Die more then Americans, a recent studies shows that Canadians over the age of 85 die more than Americans over the age of 40.