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Current Trends and Recurrent Themes in Canadian Higher Education International Journal of Technology and Inclusive Education (IJTIE), Volume 10, Issue 1, 2021 Current Trends and Recurrent Themes in Canadian Higher Education Dale Kirby Faculty of Education Memorial University of Newfoundland Abstract The COVID-19 global pandemic has resulted in In this paper, the continuing consequences of the significant challenges and disruptions for higher shift toward the economic-utilitarian dimension of education institutions around the world. In Canada, higher education are explored in the context of more the pandemic has created new financial pressures recent issues and developments in Canadian higher that will continue to impact colleges and universities education. These include the furtherance of as the country focuses on returning to some marketization and corporatization, stagnant and semblance of normality in 2021. Owing to the declining public funding for institutions of higher constitutional delegation of authority for the learning, the reemergence of performance funding as provision of education to its individual provinces, a governmental priority, challenges to Canada's higher education sector is comprised of a internationalization (i.e., international student number of individual provincial systems with their recruitment as a result of the COVID-19 global own distinctive features. As a result, the policy pandemic, and a new focus on the development and choices affecting higher education at any time, prior delivery of microcredentials by colleges and to, during, or following the pandemic, highlight universities. differences in priorities, values, and goals amongst the provinces. One aspect of higher education that 2. Liberal humanism vs economic the sector as a whole shares in common is the utilitarianism continuing influence of market-driven and commercially-oriented perspectives on the sector Higher education has to some extent always and the consequent priorities for its institutions. This served both economic and non-economic objectives, paper reviews the contemporary conflict between but a more globalized world has increased the liberal-humanist and economic-utilitarian objectives tension between objectives of a liberal-humanist for Canadian higher education and provides insight nature and those which are more economic-utilitarian into how the dominating influence of economic- [1]. Liberal-humanist objectives recognize the utilitarian aims are reflected in recent higher benefits of higher and advanced learning for the sake education policy choices and higher education of the learning itself and its contribution to the trends across the country. growth, development, and fulfillment of both the individual and the collective benefit of society. This 1. Introduction outlook values the pursuit of higher education more so for its moral, civic, cultural, and broader In a previous article [1], I explored some of the intellectual purposes. This includes the full dominant policy trends which emerged in Canada's development of the human personality beyond higher education sector with the dawn of the 21st opportunities for personal advancement to the century. Combined, these trends, including promotion of understanding, tolerance, friendship, privatization, marketization, emphasis on quality and community. These objectives encompass assurance, and increased internationalization, education for citizenship, which promotes and demonstrated the pervasive and growing influence strengthens equality, human rights, and fundamental that economic globalization has had on the sector freedoms. since about the mid-1970s. The continuing As free market forces around the world have commercialization of higher education and the become a dominating influence with more liberalized prioritization of private interests over public ones trade, technological advances, and increased labour have fostered an increasingly utilitarian, market- mobility, the consequent cultural, ideological, oriented ideological outlook on the raison d'être of political, and social changes have served to place a higher education. Economic globalization, with higher value on higher education for is critical role in neoliberalism as its central, hegemonic doctrine, has economic productivity, growth, and prosperity. contributed to a relative decline in the influence of While liberal-humanist objectives may be regarded liberal-humanist academic aims in favour of an as complementary or important for the continuation orientation which is of a more economic-utilitarian the academic traditions of institutions of higher persuasion. learning, economic-utilitarianism emphasizes training and vocationalism which is more oriented toward labor market development for the purpose of Copyright © 2021, Infonomics Society | DOI: 10.20533/ijtie.2047.0533.2021.0202 1648 International Journal of Technology and Inclusive Education (IJTIE), Volume 10, Issue 1, 2021 enhancing global economic competitiveness. In education in Canada has been remarkably stable over addition to workforce development to provide human the past 13 years [4], [5]. Provincial authorities have capital to sufficiently meet the changing demands of carried out no fewer than two dozen evaluations of businesses and industries, the economic-utilitarian their higher education systems since 2005, with these discourse also places a high value on higher reviews culminating in official reports on the status education as a domestic economic investment of and future directions for their respective systems. because knowledge production and innovation There are important similarities and differences through research is viewed as critical to gaining a between these review exercises and their outcomes; competitive advantage and succeeding in the however, they have consistently urged governments exceedingly competitive globalized marketplace [1]. to expand system capacity and improve student access to meet growing demands for spaces in 3. Marketizing and corporatizing the college and university programs. system In the oil revenue dependent provinces of Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador, recently completed Accelerated globalization towards the end of the higher education system reviews have echoed 20th Century raised a continuing debate in higher familiar themes from the economic-utilitarianism education regarding the twin forces of marketization perspective while recommending more governing and corporatization. Increasing deregulation and autonomy for higher education institutions [6], [7]. alignment with corporate and commercial interests At the same time, governments in these two has seen higher education systems progressively provinces have signaled that students should pay a restructured to operate in a more commercial fashion far greater proportion of the direct costs of their through the adoption of the corporate practices of participation in higher learning. In the western private-sector enterprises [1], [2]. This has been province of Alberta, recently proposed double-digit accompanied by increasing marketization whereby percentage increases in tuition fees have followed traditional liberal-humanist values are steadily and multi-year higher education funding reductions of incrementally supplanted by the market-based more than half a billion dollars by 2022-23 [8], [9]. principles of competition, profit, and private-interest. In the easternmost province of Newfoundland and With these forces, public and citizenship interests Labrador, a widespread economic review have been displaced by an emphasis on collaboration commissioned by the fiscally challenged government with the private sector, the promotion of commercial recently recommended a 30% reduction in public interests, and increased educational consumerism. funding for the province’s college and university Marketization and corporatization have been programs [10]. The latest funding measures in facilitated by restructuring and transitioning higher Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador have been education funding away from unconditional public by far the most austere amongst the Canadian grants to new models which include a focus on provinces in recent times, owing in part to post-oil incentivizing accountability. In some cases, new boom economic hardships. A review of provincial funding envelopes for public institutions are budgets introduced across the country in 2021 designed to meet predetermined labour market- reveals that where additional higher education linked targets that serve government and private- funding has been announced, these initiatives amount sector interests as opposed to the objectives of to only modest investments which do not keep pace institutions. Growing marketization and with rising costs due to inflation [4]. corporatization has placed increasing emphasis on the commercial value of research and private sector 5. Performance funding debates investment in research at public institutions while overshadowing the traditions of institutional Funding formulas have been widely used by autonomy, academic freedom, and curiosity-driven governments and higher education authorities to research pursuits [1], [3]. apportion funding to colleges and universities since about the mid-20th century. Performance funding 4. Stagnant and declining public funding formulas in higher education are most commonly combined with other types of funding formulas to Higher education in Canada is constitutionally the provide a portion of overall institutional funds based responsibility of each respective provincial on one or more identified outputs.
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