CCL Home > Reports & Data > Post-secondary Education > PSE 2007
Just as we have the Canada Health Act to protect and enhance this country’s physical health, so we need a national framework to protect and enhance Canada’s intellectual health.
That’s why I applaud the Canadian Council on Learning for their efforts to define clear system-wide measurements and develop a framework for articulating a national vision and strategy for post-secondary education in their 2007 annual report.
A pan-Canadian data strategy and framework for post-secondary education will help institutions fine-tune their curriculum to match the needs of a changing labour market, encourage accountability and allow our system’s benchmarks to stand with those of the world’s leading countries. Canadian universities will be able to better determine their comparative standing and evaluate their institutional performance amongst their peers under such a framework, and establishing a national vision for post-secondary education with national objectives will result in the kind of accessible and high-quality system that is a key building block for a globally competitive economy.
Canada’s richest resource is its brainpower, but we will never make the best use of that resource unless we support it with all our strength at the national as well as the provincial level. —David Johnston, President, University of Waterloo
With many sectors of the economy negatively affected by a shortage of skilled workers, and with demographic trends pointing to a compounding problem as baby boomers flood into retirement, it is both lamentable and irresponsible that Canada among all OECD countries, has the weakest data on education and has developed neither a pan-Canadian skills agenda nor goals and measures for post-secondary education. With no understanding of current realities and no road map to guide us forward, we are doomed to lose our competitive position in the global economy. Most countries have national strategies - Canada does not!
The 2007 Canadian Council on Learning Report on Post-Secondary Education in Canada provides an excellent basis for Canadian action. We urge policy makers at all levels to commit to a pan-Canadian skills agenda and to place a priority on filling data gaps. Our competitive edge is at stake. —Jim Knight, President, Association of Canadian Community Colleges
In today’s global society where ideas drive social innovation and economic growth, learning and research are not constrained by provincial or even national boundaries. Increasingly, a country’s ability to support talented and knowledgeable citizens is the underpinning of its wellbeing.
I commend the Canadian Council of Learning for bringing to the fore the importance of a strong post-secondary education sector. The Council’s report, Strategies for Success, points to the need for national goals for PSE, supported by a solid base of information to assess the effectiveness of the sector. A national strategy would support more coherent use of resources, and more effective and coordinated planning by post-secondary institutions. Countries worldwide are recognizing that a strategic approach for PSE is a prerequisite for success; it is time for Canada to do the same. —Stephen Toope, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of British Columbia
The Canadian Council on Learning has issued a much-needed report that makes it abundantly clear that Canada urgently needs to follow the lead of the countries that have developed national goals for post-secondary education. This report makes a compelling case that Canada's fragmented and patchwork PSE sector will not be able to respond to the national need for highly skilled and knowledgeable people to support economic prosperity. CCL proposes a pragmatic approach to build a coherent national framework, starting with concerted policies for accreditation, credit transfer, and quality assurance.
In particular, a pan-Canadian framework for post-secondary education would greatly benefit colleges if we had national data available to assess post-secondary capacity and demand versus labour-market need. There is an immense information gap in post-secondary education in Canada now with no ability to capture and compare student demand/capacity with the future labour market needs of the country. —Susan Witter, President, Douglas College
Ontario universities welcome the call from the Canadian Council on Learning for a national strategy on postsecondary education and research. The federal government has an important role to play in working with the provinces to support continued excellence in our universities. Higher learning and research are fundamental to enhancing productivity and making us economically competitive, as well as playing a critical role in fostering cultural development, contributing to government policy development and encouraging civic engagement. A robust set of performance indicators and quality measures will help enormously in fostering excellence in teaching and research in our PSE system. —Paul C. Genest, President, Council of Ontario Universities
This is to confirm support for the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) 2007 report entitled Post-secondary Education in Canada: Strategies for Success. Specifically, the report, which provides for a pan-Canadian framework for postsecondary education, will assist institutions in meeting their goals, and contribute to stronger economic and social outcomes for Canada. Moreover, an operational framework for a pan-Canadian postsecondary education data strategy provides for and makes an important contribution to our knowledge base on Canada’s postsecondary system and whether it meets the needs of Canadians.
The report also allows for effective assessment of our current performance, anticipation of future needs, and identification of data gaps, all of which in turn supports ongoing analysis and institutional strategy development.
Last, but not least, the report has potential for stimulating discussion and debate on the future of post-secondary education within provincial jurisdictions and in Canada. In an increasingly competitive global knowledge economy Canadians need to know how well our postsecondary sector is doing and how our approach to higher education compares with that of other countries.
The report on learning will no doubt stimulate learning! —Ralph Nilson, President & CEO, Malaspina University-College
As the world economy integrates and becomes increasingly competitive, the role of the PSE sector will be the defining element in securing our future prosperity. We trail many of our OECD partners in innovation and productivity and a national strategy is needed to remove these gaps and react to the newly emerging economies that have education as a foundation for their future. The Canadian Council on Learning’s 2007 report on PSE is both seminal and timely in providing a cohesive and strategic approach that will provide for a national debate and new policy actions for Canada. —Colin Dodds, President, St-Mary’s University
There is a strong need for post secondary institutions to have a source of reliable data on what is happening in colleges, universities and private institutions in Canada. In today’s knowledge intensive society, there must be better ways to match projected labour demand with access to post secondary education as ever indicator points to the fact that 70% of future careers will require some form of post secondary qualification.
To ensure that Canada has the skilled labour necessary to sustain and grow its economy, a pan-Canadian coordinated approach is essential which will provide the data necessary for key decision making which will ensure that the goals of the institutions are achieved and that the country is well positioned to compete in the global competition for knowledge workers.
Accountability is essential for both governments and institutions and it is only with solid benchmarks based on verifiable data that metrics can be established which will ensure that this country is progressing in a direction which is understood, supported and which will deliver future competitive advantage. —Robert Gillett, President, Algonquin College
The 2007 report provides good, quantitative information on Canada’s post-secondary sector, and, in certain areas, identified important gaps in knowledge. Some trends are most disconcerting, including the low graduation rates of males from university programs. This trend calls for urgent action and I look forward to working with my colleagues and others to rectify the problem. —Axel Meisen, President and Vice-Chancellor, Memorial University of Newfoundland
The Canadian Council on Learning’s report is broad in its scope and clearly sets forth the benefits of a Pan-Canadian framework in which the post-secondary education sector can participate more fully and effectively. The themes in the report form a strong foundation for the building of a pan-Canadian framework. The importance of these themes is clearly evident in the recent Advantage New Brunswick report by the Commission on Post-Secondary Education in New Brunswick, as well as in similar reports tabled in other jurisdictions across Canada. CCL’s report adds a strong voice in these matters.
Moving forward will require new levels of understanding and cooperation among all stakeholders. The report acknowledges that much is being done to meet the needs of learners and institutions locally and provincially but the lack of a national perspective may mean that Canada falls short of fully realizing its potential. I would suggest that organizations in Atlantic Canada such as the Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training (CAMET) and the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Council (MPHEC) foster a framework in which significant progress is being made on shared goals among the Atlantic Provinces, including a number of the goals highlighted in CCL’s report. By way of illustration, the MPHEC has implemented a comprehensive quality assurance process that addresses numerous aspects of the academic programs and research undertaken by universities in the region. The MPHEC has completed comprehensive studies addressing student success, accessibility, and life-long learning expectations. CAMET, in cooperation with StatsCan, the Canadian Millennium Foundation and institutions across the region is currently preparing a study on the mobility of students in Atlantic Canada. The efforts of these organizations clearly illustrate the potential benefits of a pan-Canadian framework and demonstrate that such a framework can be achieved.
CCL’s will no doubt be the catalyst for thoughtful discussion and more importantly action across Canada. —John McLaughlin, President & Vice-Chancellor, University of New Brunswick
After reviewing CCL's PSE report, I found myself reflecting on the strong parallel between Centennial College's learning vision and the proposed pan-Canadian framework. At Centennial, we are deeply committed to enhancing our students' development by giving them a structured opportunity to better understand themselves and their place in the world. CCL's pan-Canadian framework presents a somewhat analogous framework for our country i.e., to use a structured model of data gathering and analysis to better understand the current state of PSE in Canada and, in turn, better define our place in the global PSE community. This approach has opened new learning vistas for our students and I believe the pan-Canadian framework holds considerable promise to bring similar benefits to the Canadian PSE system. —Ann Buller, President, Centennial College
Post-secondary education is the underpinning of a nation's success in the global knowledge economy of the 21st century. It is estimated that 70% of the new jobs that will be created in Canada by 2015 will require post-secondary education.
Many countries around the world are developing national strategies to ensure that they have the skilled and knowledgeable citizens to support a prosperous society. Canada needs to do the same. A good plan is the foundation of any successful project, and nowhere is success more important to Canada's future than in the field of post-secondary education.
The Canadian Council on Learning has set out a solid roadmap - starting by involving partners in post-secondary education in the development of a national framework that builds on the existing collaboration among governments, the private sector and educational institutions; then establishing benchmarks and targets; and collecting the information needed to measure progress. This forward-looking proposal would support better use of resources and more effective planning, to ensure Canadians have access to the best possible post-secondary education. —Peter MacKinnon, President, University of Saskatchewan
Like other post-secondary education institutions in Canada, Confederation College, which has a main campus in Thunder Bay, Ontario, is located in six other communities in Northwestern Ontario, and serves an area larger in size than France, is committed to building a healthy, prosperous society. The individual and broader societal benefits of higher education are great and the hard-working citizens of Northwestern Ontario look to Confederation College as a beacon of hope for a better life. We are dedicated to delivering on this promise in spite of many challenges. We are committed to improving “Quality”, and require more information to gauge our effectiveness. We are diligent in raising the bar on “Access,” especially to under-represented groups such as Aboriginals and First Generation learners, and we require a broad-based, comprehensive national policy in this area if we are to make significant progress. We believe the recommendations in the report “Post-Secondary Education in Canada: Strategies for Success,” will significantly enhance Confederation’s accountability for and ability to achieve breakthrough results. But more importantly, they will provide policy and decision makers across Canada with the right information, tools and mechanisms to create the necessary conditions for Canada to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in the world through our capacity to increase human capital potential by enabling citizens to realize their goals and their potential better than any other country. We are very grateful to the Canadian Council on Learning for the essential work they have done to initiate the creation of a Pan-Canadian framework for post-secondary education and offer our complete support. —Patricia Lang, President, Confederation College
A pan-Canadian framework for post-secondary education will improve outcomes for students, post-secondary institutions and the economy. Anticipated benefits from a more national approach will include enhanced skilled-labour mobility, the establishment of national quality improvement benchmarks and targets, the enhancement of global competitiveness through academic programs with national scope and recognition, and a stronger and more compelling national profile in the international education marketplace. —Jeff Zabudsky, President & CEO, Red River College
This letter indicates my support for the Canadian Council on Learning’s 2007 report and its recommendation for a pan-Canadian mechanism PSE Data Strategy. Currently there are no articulated pan-Canadian goals or ways to measure achievement. As post-secondary institutions we need to provide government decision makers with the information they require to determine and develop the best policies for post-secondary education in Canada. As the Canadian Council on Learning indicates, almost all other developed countries have built national information systems and developed the tools and mechanisms to begin to operationalize policy. Without a pan-Canadian framework for PSE institutions can not evaluate our capacity against labour-market needs, we are missing critical information.
Better data will inform better policy. Learners will be able to make better choices based on their goals, universities and colleges will discover whether they have the programs and capacity to meet the needs of students, employers will know whether they have the employees with the right skills, and governments will understand how to invest the hard earned dollars of Canadians most effectively. A systematic approach can solve challenges in the areas of prior learning assessment, student mobility and credit transfer, and quality assurance. We need to know what works and what does not, so that limited resources are invested wisely. Benchmarks and targets will provide measurable outcomes for the $36 billion (2006-2007) the federal and provincial governments invest annually in post-secondary education. Education provides important vocational skills, but it can also serve as a catalyst to promote peace, tolerance, social justice and respect for human beings and human rights. Along with food, water, shelter and health care, education is increasingly recognized as society’s ‘fourth pillar’. We need to collectively ensure that this pillar is the strongest it can be and so I reiterate my full support for establishing a pan-Canadian strategy to meet the needs of students, universities and colleges, and of our country. —Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice-Chancellor, The University of Winnipeg
As President of one of Canada's largest colleges, located in the Greater Toronto Area, and a founding member of Polytechnics Canada, I strongly endorse the new report on post-secondary education in Canada produced by the Canadian Council on Learning: Strategies for Success. Having recently co-chaired the Commission on Post-Secondary Education in New Brunswick, I have witnessed first hand the challenges being faced by the higher education sector in Atlantic Canada. Strategies for Success identifies critical deficiencies in Canada's higher education system, which require prompt attention in order to sustain Canada's economic and labour development, productivity and competitiveness in the 21st century. The current and looming skills shortage, Canada's innovation lag in bringing ideas to market through applied research and commercialization of research, the rise of applied undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate credentials are new developments which policy makers, and governments must address in order for Canada to stay competitive globally. The CCL, along with others, has identified sharply the needs of the new learners in our post-secondary education system. Colleges and polytechnics directly address these new needs and challenges - those of the under-represented and disadvantaged learners, the newcomers, the adult workers and learners, the part time learners. Yet to date, there has been little or no systematic understanding and support for the new education and training services that polytechnics offer. Further and equally lamentable is the lack of a national system of transferability of credits that is a major impediment to student mobility across the country. Accurate and sustained data and measurement of the kind being sought by CCL will help to demonstrate to governments and taxpayers the significant contribution of Canada's polytechnics. Through better data, benchmarking and target setting, and national dialogue on a national framework for higher education, we can begin to address these challenges and opportunities to enhance Canada's economic and labour market development. As a result the CCL report articulates practical and realistic action which must be undertaken to achieve a better understanding of Canada's post secondary education system.
Colleges such as Seneca, and its Polytechnics Canada partners, stand ready to cooperate with the measurement and accountability standards being sought in the CCL report. If higher education is seen as more than merely a social good, but a key element of Canada's economic and social prosperity, then sustained data collection, measurement and transferability of credits are essential. I welcome this report and Seneca will actively participate in contributing data, policy ideas and our experiences to further work by CCL in the coming years. —Rick Miner, President, Seneca College
Canada’s competitive edge is in danger of being eroded unless we increase the quantity and quality of its post-secondary graduates. Our competitors are using education strategically to give them a competitive edge; we have no choice but to do the same.
The Canadian Council on Learning’s report recognizes the critical importance of establishing national common education goals and measuring our collective performance in achieving these. In calling for a pan-Canadian PSE framework and a PSE data strategy the report has provided two key solutions to helping Canada better align the supply and capacity of the country’s PSE sector to the needs of learners, society and the economy. —Sharon Maloney, Executive Director, Polytechnics Canada
I would like to congratulate the Canadian Council on Learning on the release of their second annual report on post-secondary education in Canada. We have much to be proud of concerning post-secondary education and training in this country. Our collective economic and social success in the future will, in no small measure, rely on the continued vitality of our post-secondary education systems.
The challenges we face in this sector have many commonalities across provinces and territories. Ensuring access, affordability and quality are priorities for all jurisdictions. It is important to develop enhanced information at institutional and provincial/territorial levels that can contribute to a clearer pan-Canadian picture.
CCL’s report “Post-secondary Education in Canada: Strategies for Success” is a comprehensive, thoughtful and well-researched contribution to ongoing, cross-jurisdictional dialogue and collaboration in post-secondary education. —Diane McGifford, Minister, Advanced Education and Literacy, Government of Manitoba
The Canadian Council on Learning report, Post-secondary Education in Canada, Strategies for Success, makes an important contribution to the necessary national discussion about the future of formal education in our country.
The Canadian Labour Congress is well aware of some of the disturbing current trends described in this report which affect our membership, such as the growth of student debt and the falling public share of post-secondary education expenditure. We are also acutely aware that significant barriers limit the ability of many people in our society to gain access to the education they aspire to.
We believe that we need a strong national system of public post-secondary education which allows all Canadians to develop their talents and capacities to the full, helps sustain good jobs with decent pay and high quality working conditions, and supports active democratic citizenship.
While there is much to discuss and debate as this report gains the wide circulation it deserves, as co-leads of the Work and Learning Knowledge Centre, we welcome the fact that this report underlines issues of interest to workers, including the importance of lifelong learning, apprenticeship, prior learning assessment and recognition, portable credentials, and the need to build stronger links between public post-secondary institutions and workplaces. We look forward to participating in a vigorous public debate on these trends and issues. —Kenneth V. Georgetti, President, Canadian Labour Congress
It is clear now more than ever that the governments of our country need to work together to develop a national vision for our post-secondary education system, outlining pan-Canadian goals and strategies that will make our system one that is of the highest quality and one that is accessible to all Canadians and citizens of the world. The Canadian Council on Learning has taken an important step in this direction by developing a Pan-Canadian Data Strategy for post-secondary education. For years, students have been demanding that our governments treat higher education as a national priority, and with this additional support from the research community, it is no longer something that can be ignored. A quality, innovative, affordable, and accessible post-secondary education system does not only ensure the individual success of our citizens; it affects the overall health and prosperity of our country. Our governments need to provide the necessary leadership and vision to ensure that this pan-Canadian issue has a pan-Canadian strategy. Our future depends upon it. —Zach Churchill, National Director, The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations
Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters is pleased to welcome the Canadian Council on Learning’s Second Annual report on Post-secondary Education in Canada, ‘Strategies for Success’. Recent developments have heightened the global competition Canada faces, reinforcing our view that the skills and talent of Canadians are a critical national priority. The pan-Canadian strategy proposed by the CCL report will help us to understand and monitor the skills and knowledge that talented young Canadians will contribute towards our national productivity and prosperity. Such a national-level capacity, already recognized by many of our competitors, is essential if as a nation we are to maintain a work force characterized by world class talent. —Jayson Myers, President, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters
With the Canadian unemployment rate at a modern-day low, businesses are encountering difficulties attracting and retaining skilled labour. High expectations are being placed upon our post-secondary education institutions to produce the graduates the economy needs and help businesses deliver a lifelong learning experience for their employees. Improving the education-to-work relationship will be difficult if we cannot measure how our post-secondary education system is performing. Some institutions and some provinces provide partial information, but the CCL is filling an important gap by providing a national perspective. And from these national measures, the CCL is setting out useful objectives that should be supported by all Canadians. This second CCL issue is particularly welcome because now we can track how performance is changing and whether we are achieving the goals. —Don Drummond, Senior Vice-President & Chief Economist, TD Bank
A strong post-secondary education (PSE) sector is the foundation of Canada’s success as a nation. Countries around the world include PSE as a vital element in their national education and skills plans. They view PSE as crucial to developing the highly skilled knowledge workers they require to support their economic growth and a high standard of living.
The Canadian Council on Learning has put forward a solid report that outlines the state of post-secondary education in Canada today (covering universities, colleges and apprenticeships) and outlines the steps needed to strengthen the sector. They include: 1) developing a set of national goals on issues such as quality, access, transfer of credits, recognition of international credentials and prior learning, health-care human resource planning, research, development and innovation, all of which have national implications; 2) setting benchmarks and targets; and 3) collecting the information needed to assess progress within Canada, compare ourselves internationally, and plan future improvements.
The starting point for success is a good plan. There are few issues as important as post-secondary education – a national plan, developed in collaboration with governments, the business sector, labour, post-secondary institutions and other key partners, will help us achieve the success we seek for individuals, families, firms and the country. —Michael Bloom, Vice-President, Organizational Effectiveness and Learning, The Conference Board of Canada
CCL reports are fast becoming an indispensable contribution to the vitally important work of enhancing post-secondary education in Canada. This year’s report reminds us of the importance of developing and using clear, consistent and comparable measures of the work done by post-secondary educators, one of the themes in our Campus 2020 plan for post-secondary education in British Columbia. But perhaps more importantly, the report challenges us to find ways to look beyond provincial borders and engage in a truly pan-Canadian discussion about our common vision, goals and objectives for post-secondary education and the pressing need for collaboration and coordination across jurisdictions. —Geoff Plant, Special Advisor, Campus 2020, British Columbia
The Canadian Council on Learning’s new report, Canadian Post-Secondary Education: Strategies for Success, highlights the growing demand for Post-Secondary Graduates across all sectors of the economy. Being competitive within a knowledge economy means that most jobs in the future will require some form of formal post-secondary education. A report that spells out the needs for a highly skilled, educated workforce is an important and timely contribution. —Andrew Cardozo, Executive Director, The Alliance of Sector Councils