CANADA: HE report highlights gaps in knowledge

As governments look to higher education to fuel economic growth and foster innovation, a new report finds there are large gaps in knowledge about how people are using the system and what is working, writes Elizabeth Church in the Globe and Mail. The report, released last week by an independent research group funded by the Ontario government, paints a picture of a province with a high demand for post-secondary education, but little evidence of how individuals make decisions about their education or the system's failures and successes.

"We need to get behind the anecdotes and understand the why," said Frank Iacobucci, former Supreme Court justice and chair of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. "People are examining post-secondary education more than ever before. We have to be competitive and get better at what we are doing." The council is now in its third year and is funding more than $4 million in research. The new report brings together work done so far and lays out a road map for future study.

What Ontario is doing well is attracting a growing number of young people to its college and university campuses. The report finds as many as 83% of Ontario residents between 24 and 26 have graduated from college or university or are still attending school.
Full report on the Globe and Mail site