What Goes Up, Must Come Down?

University Affairs stated the following about university enrollment in an article this week, "The trend continues to be up, up and up for university enrolment in Canada. According to numbers compiled by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, there are 32,000 more full-time students enrolled at Canadian universities this fall compared with the fall of 2009, an increase of 3.7 percent. Enrolment is up in every province."

One of Ryerson University's student newspaper's, The Eyeopener, published an article that paints a different picture about the future of post-secondary education (PSE) enrollment in Canada. The article quotes David Foot, author of Boom, Bust & Echo, who predicts that in three to four years enrollment across the PSE system will decline.

Foot would argue that demographics will play the biggest role in how the enrollment projections actually play out, but other factors will influence the numbers. Immigration rates, adults upgrading or taking additional courses and international student recruitment are some of the other factors that will impact enrollment in the years to come. For a more comprehensive look at enrollment projections you should check out this research paper from Statistics Canada: Postsecondary Enrolment Trends to 2031: Three Scenarios.

International Generation

If Michael Ignatieff, leader of the federal Liberal party, has his way he will "'internationalize' an entire generation of young people." This idea adds another layer to the emerging discussion of international activities that can benefit students and the post-secondary education community in Canada.  The Ontario government announced in the spring it wishes to see the number of international students increase by 50% in the next five year.

Hearing stories from friends that took advantage of the opportunity to study abroad I now look back on my own student experience and wish I had given traveling abroad to study more thought. Perhaps the increased attention of these international activities will entice current and future students to consider the opportunities of connecting with an international student on their campus or going abroad to enhance their own student experience.  

Student Housing's Next Evolution?

Over the last half century Canadian student housing has evolved many times. Some of the milestones have included: a major residence building boom beginning in the 1960's, the introduction of the RA position and the eventual adoption of professional staff to supervise student staff , a suite style building wave began in the 1980's, the first Living Learning Communities were seen around 1990 and about 20 years ago private developers began constructing and operating residence buildings. 

The next evolution in Canadian student housing seems to be upon us. A struggling economy combined with rising government debt means schools must seek out new solutions when new construction is considered. Last week, an article in the Globe & Mail highlighted that several schools, including University of Toronto, Trent University and Simon Fraser University, are exploring the P3 model (public-private-partnerships) as a way to add student housing without taking on debt. My school can also be added into the mix.

With university and college executive along with developers not being intimately aware of the factors involved in operating a residence an opportunity exists, at this early stage, for student housing professionals to point out a set of values important to creating successful residence communities where student success is maximized.  OACUHO and RLPA are in a great position to take a lead on communicating this set of values and they have the advantage of looking south to use the US as a guide since the P3 model is further along the evolutionary path.  

"In order to ‘engage’ we must ‘be engaged’"

Want to engage students? The University of Waterloo believes that students can be engaged more effectively if staff and faculty are engaged first. Be Engaged has been set up by UW to help promote staff and faculty engagement. To kick start the initiative staff organized a student panel for a recent staff conference. A book club has also been set up. Student Affairs staff on any campus can benefit greatly by starting projects, like Be Engaged, that promote dialogue as it will lead to a deeper understanding of student engagement and promote collaboration between different stakeholders.

The Competition for International Students Begins

Now that members of the university community in Ontario have had time to digest the throne speech I expect that we will see an adjustment in strategy by some schools and new initiatives by others. Competition for international students is sure to heat up though as Premier McGuinty hopes to see a 50% increase in the number of international students over the next five years.

Recently, Western President, Amit Chakma, set a new standard for UWO to reach in a speech at London's Rotary Club. The London Free Press article about the speech highlights that Chakma wants to "open up" Western to the rest of the world and he intends to do this, in part, by bringing international student enrollment in line with some of Canada's top schools. Chakma stated that 6% of the students at Western are from outside Canada and he would like that number to increase to 10%, which is where the University of Toronto currently sits. McGill's international student population is about 20%.

A greater number of international students will bring opportunities and challenges. Doug Owram, in a University Affairs article, points out that "universities need to invest in the students’ success after they arrive on campus. Most universities have created some level of support, and international centres and special orientation programs are common. However, these programs vary considerably in length, resources and substance. All too often, support for international students seems to exist outside the main academic mission of the institutions."

The Premier set the stage and now the players are jockeying for position. Student Affairs is in a strong position to do well in this "race" too.  

Alex Usher: A Consultant Worth Following

Over the past few months I have seen a few articles by Alex Usher that I have found to offer some keen insights in Higher Education. Usher is a Higher Education consultant and his company is Higher Education Strategy Associates.

The first article was Back to the future in University Affairs where he offers his perspective on what higher education in Canada will look like over the next 25 years.

The second article, posted yesterday, is an interview of Usher posted on the Higher Education Management group's blog. In this interview he talks about the value of university rankings, compares Canada's higher education system to other countries and he shares his views of how tuition influences access to education. 

Blame Roy Giroux for My Blog

Dr. Roy Giroux was a professor in my Master's program who has had quite an impact on many students and education professionals in Canada (including me). He served as a Vice-President at Humber College for many years and was instrument in bringing Central Michigan University's Master of Arts in Education program to Ontario. 

Roy taught two of the courses in my Master's program and as we were nearing the end of the program, he challenged my classmates and I to find a way to continue using our new knowledge and to share it with others. He suggested we could present, publish our research or continue with our studies. Blogging was not one of the choices he suggested, but it seemed to me to be a way of extending my learning beyond my masters program while still satisfying Roy's challenge.

It was about a 18 months ago that I started blogging and I recall searching for blogs to see if I could find some examples or models to follow. I did not have much luck. It was not difficult to find blogs about education, but they tended to be elementary or high school teachers or college faculty. It was difficult to find blogs about student affairs in Canada or the US.

I was not sure what to expect when I started sharing my blogs publicly. Part of me wondered if anyone would notice. Making a contribution by writing was not familiar territory for me. Fortunately, given some time, a few people did notice. I recall being surprised to find the first comment on one of my blog posts - it took me a few weeks before I even noticed. Other surprises followed, such as someone signing up to follow my blog, and Joey Coleman, a post-secondary education reporter, sharing a link to one of my posts in his blog. 

Blogging has become a new way for me to explore my thoughts about my work and education in general. It has also allowed me to engage with colleagues in a different way. It has been great to discover new blogs about student affairs, especially from Canada. If you have not read the blog Deanne Fisher started called CACUSS Reads or Ross McMillan's blog at studentaffairs.ca then I would encourage you to do so. Perhaps you will even be inspired to start your own blog. Just remember to blame Roy.