Canadian Journal of Higher Education / Revue Canadienne d'Enseignement Supérieur focuses on the Canadian higher education system, its structures, processes, and diverse communities. The aim of the Journal is to promote Canadian-based and international comparative research relating directly to the Canadian higher education context; the Journal is published by the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education.

News

The Globethics library contains articles of Canadian Journal of Higher Education as of vol. 1(1971) to current.

Recent Submissions

  • University Funding Formulas: An Analysis of the Québec Reforms and Incentives

    Bouchard St-Amant, Pier-André; Brabant, Alexis-Nicolas; Germain, Éric (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2020-03-31)
    This paper analyzes the incentives induced by a formula to fund universities based primarily on enrolment. Using a simple game theoretical framework, we argue that inherently those formulas lower the funding per student. We argue that if the funding value differs by enrolment type, it introduces incentives to substitute enrolment where most profitable. We use these results to discuss the 2018 funding formula changes in Québec. Québec’s latest reform is an attempt to reduce substitution effects and increase graduate enrolment. We provide simulations of the reform’s redistributive effects. With the formula change, some universities have structural advantages over others. Whilst the reform, on a short-term basis, deploys a mechanism to mitigate these advantages, on a long-term basis the effect introduces a larger gap between Québec higher-education institutions.
  • Sexual Violence and Women’s Education: Examining Academic Performance and Persistence

    Stermac, Lana; Cripps, Jenna; Amiri, Touraj; Badali, Veronica (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2020-03-31)
    Sexual violence continues to be a serious problem on university campuses. While the negative psychological and health effects of sexual violence are well known, it is only recently that attention has focused on how these behaviours impact education, particularly women’s education. This study contributes to this area and examined the impact of types of sexual violence on behavioural and attitudinal indicators of academic performance and persistence among students reporting sexual violence. Undergraduate women attending university in Ontario, Canada (N= 934) responded to survey measures of academic performance, attitudes towards education and sexual violence experiences. The results indicate that sexual violence has a deleterious impact on women’s academic performance including and beyond grades. Women students who experienced sexual violence reported more delays and failures on assignments, courses and exams, were more likely to endorse attendance problems and thoughts of dropping out or quitting than students not reporting sexual violence. Type of sexual violence experienced was also related to academic performance.  The results are discussed in terms of the need to understand components of academic performance as well as factors that may contribute to outcomes for students. Findings have implications for intervention and policy development.
  • Policy Analysis of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategies in Canadian Universities – How Far Have We Come?

    Tamtik, Merli; Guenter, Melissa (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    Institutional efforts to address equity, diversity and inclusion in educational settings have been often met with overwhelmingly critical accounts pointing towards well-intentioned attempts that have reinforced exclusion and inequity. A new wave of recent developments among Canadian research-intensive universities (U15) is providing a slightly different account of universities’ involvement in addressing the needs of equity-seeking students. This paper presents data collected through policy analysis of 50 strategic documents from 15 Canadian universities from 2011-2018. The findings suggest that equity, diversity and inclusion activities have become a policy priority attached to a variety of institutional action plans and performance reports. As a result, there has been an increase in institutional strategic activities including institutional political commitment (e.g. new equity offices, new senior administration positions, mandatory training), student and faculty recruitment with programmatic and research supports (e.g. diversity admission policies, scholarships, access programs, curriculum changes), accompanied by broader efforts to create supportive institutional climates (e.g. student advisors, awards, celebrations). Inconsistencies emerged amongst how equity is defined in policy documents, resulting in either redistributive or inclusive practices in equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives.
  • L’incidence du milieu d’études sur les possibilités de choix de femmes autochtones : typologie de parcours scolaires

    Joncas, Jo-Anni; Pilote, Annie (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    This paper aims to assess the impact of the study environment on the opportunities of Indigenous women to complete the school pathway desired. During individual interviews, we collected 19 stories of Indigenous women’s experiences at two Quebec universities, one with several initiatives for indigenous students and the other with few. Through a typological analysis, four types of school pathways are presented according to the impact of the study environment; the pathway with: 1) pre-existing opportunities; 2) opportunities highlighted by the study environment; 3) rebound opportunities; and 4) driven by external impulses. Inspired by the capability approach, the results highlight the importance of focusing not only on the services and measures available to these students, but also on their ability to use them to achieve the desired academic path. This requires considering the factors that enable them to make effective use of educational resources for the purpose they choose.
  • Responsibility Center Budgeting as a Mechanism to Deal with Academic Moral Hazard

    Myers, Gordon M. (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    Universities face inherent informational asymmetries. These make university budgeting prone to various challenges including moral hazard. The last forty years has seen some large research- intensive universities move from centralized incremental budgeting to decentralized Responsibility Center Budgeting (RCB). It is assumed that a faculty chooses a level of costly effort in generating revenue for the university. The level of faculty effort is not observable by the central administration. When there is no revenue uncertainty or when the faculty is not risk averse, pure RCB is best from the perspective of the administration. The intuition is that pure RCB fully aligns financial responsibility with academic authority, that is, it makes the faculty the residual claimant. Once the faculty is risk averse, partial RCB is optimal. Partial RCB provides a balance between providing the right incentives to the faculty and the university reducing the revenue risk faced by the faculty.
  • Earnings Differences among Senior University Administrators: Evidence by Gender and Academic Field

    Mang, Colin F. (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    This study examines earnings inequality by gender and academic field among senior university administrators, including presidents, vice presidents, associate and assistant vice presidents, and deans, using data from the Canadian province of Ontario. While a 4.4 percent earnings gap between male and female administrators is initially identified, much of the gap is explained by earnings inequality across academic fields and by the career experience of the administrators. Administrators who specialize in professional fields such as engineering, health sciences, law, and social work earn between 12 percent and 33 percent more than administrators who specialize in liberal fields in the humanities and social sciences.
  • Sexual Violence on University Campuses: Differences and Similarities in the Experiences of Students, Professors and Employees

    Bergeron, Manon; Goyer, Marie-France; Hébert, Martine; Ricci, Sandrine (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    This article presents a portrait of sexual violence on university campuses (SVUC) at six universities in Québec (Canada) and explores differences and similarities in the experiences of students, professors and employees. Data are drawn from the Enquête Sexualité, Sécurité et Interactions en Milieu Universitaire (ESSIMU). They reveal disturbing rates of SVUC among students (36.2%), professors (38.8%) and employees (38.7%). The results show that the hierarchical status of perpetrators was higher than that of victims for a significant proportion of professors (33%) and employees (50.7%). When asked about the type of assistance they would want in the event of SVUC, the majority of students, professors and employees affirmed they would want support during the reporting/complaint process, information about available recourse within the university to report the incident, and psychological support provided by a resource outside the university.
  • Ethno-linguistic patterns of degree completion in BC universities: How important are high-school academic achievement and institution of entry?

    Sweet, Robert; Pullman, Ashley; Adamuti-Trache, Maria; Robson, Karen (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    We examine bachelor's degree completion in the British Columbia post-secondary system, which is noted for its multiple pathways to graduation and ethnically diverse student population. Employing an administrative longitudinal dataset, we compare how the probability of degree completion by students enrolled at research-intensive, teaching-intensive, and college-technical institutions differs by ethno-linguistic background and high school grades. Estimates from multi-level logistic regression modelsdemonstrate that Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese speakers have lower probabilities of degree completion than English-speaking students. The type of institution a student initially enters is, however, an important correlate of degree completion for all ethno-linguistic groups. Students with lower high school grades who initially enter a research-intensive institution are more likely to graduate compared with higher-achieving students who enter a teaching-intensive or college-technical institution. To improve completion by institutional type and among ethno-linguistic groups, our study highlights the need for research on why degree completion is lower at certain institutions for all ethno-linguistic groups and consistently lower among Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese speakers regardless of their level of academic achievement in high school or the type of post-secondary institution they initially entered.
  • The Role of University Crown Foundations in Higher Education Policy: A Cross-Canada Study (1984–1998)

    Thomarat, Jacqueline (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    This qualitative case investigation considers the historical, inter-provincial proliferation of university Crown foundations across Canada from 1984 to 1998. From the findings of over 40 interviews conducted between 2014 and 2017 and document analysis, this study uses a conceptual framework of policy entrepreneurship and institutionalism to provide evidence of Crown foundations’ policy engagement in post-secondary education and fiscal policy in Canada. The efforts to increase the availability of tax incentives to the system by policy entrepreneurs increased resources available to Canadian university Crown foundations, although the advantage to universities was only temporary.
  • Perceptions of Institutional Teaching Culture by Tenured, Tenure-track, and Sessional Faculty

    Dawson, Debra L.; Meadows, Ken N.; Kustra, Erika; Hansen, Kathryn D. (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    The Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Survey (ITCPS) was used to investigate beliefs of tenured, tenure-track, and sessional faculty members (N=576) about the teaching culture within three large research-intensive universities in Canada. As predicted, we found significant differences between these three groups of faculty members’ perceptions of their institutions’ teaching cultures. Sessional faculty perceived that their universities rewarded effective teaching less than their tenured or tenure-track colleagues. Tenured faculty were less likely than the tenure-track and sessional faculty to believe it was important to encourage, recognize, or assess effective teaching. These results have important implications for the quality of teachingand, ultimately, student learning, as sessional faculty are teaching an increasing number of students and tenured faculty are the primary decision-makers in setting the priorities for their institutions.
  • Book review of "Assessing Quality in Postsecondary Education: International Perspectives"

    Holmes, Jason R. (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
  • Gender and the Faculty Care Gap: “The Obvious Go-To Person” for Canadian University Students’ Personal Problems

    Dengate, Jennifer; Peter, Tracey; Farenhorst, Annemieke (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-12-10)
    A mixed methods analysis of Canadian natural sciences and engineering faculty’s workplace experiences revealed a gendered care gap with women reporting greater responsibility for students’ personal and mental health problems, including suicidal thoughts and behaviour, and sexual assault. Statistical results demonstrated that women were approached by a significantly greater number of students to discuss serious non-academic issues and experienced more stress as a result. A comparative qualitative analysis found faculty’s responses to students’ problems were informed by gendered cultural care expectations thatrequire women to be more supportive than men. However, female and male faculty’s care burden may also be exacerbated by institutional factors, including senior administrative positions, undergraduate class loads, and teaching courses with mental health-related content. As such, the care gap is relevant to understanding the extent to which gender inequality is embedded within the structure of universities.
  • Pluralizing Frameworks for Global Ethics in the Internationalization of Higher Education in Canada

    Stein, Sharon; Andreotti, Vanessa; Suša, Rene (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-04-21)
    Internationalization continues to be a priority within many Canadian universities. While it is imperative to attend to the ethical dilemmas that accompany the intensification of internationalization, different ethical frameworks operate according to different orientating assumptions. In this paper, we seek to pluralize and deepen conversations about the ethics of internationalization by illustrating how three global ethics approaches address questions of international student mobility, study and service abroad, and internationalizing the curriculum. We conclude by emphasizing the need for both scholars and practitioners to engage in multi-voiced, critically-informed analyses, and dissensual conversations about complex ethical dilemmas related to internationalization.
  • Owen-Smith, Jason (2018).  Research Universities and the Public Good: Discovery for an Uncertain Future,

    Lang, Daniel Wallace (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-08-23)
    None
  • Where is it? Examining Post-Secondary Students' Accessibility to Policies and Resources on Sexual Violence

    Magnussen, Jacey; Shankar, Irene (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-08-23)
    Faced with a growing demand for adequate policies and programs that meaningfully address sexual violence on campus, the provinces of British Columbia, Ontario and Manitoba have introduced legislation requiring all post-secondary institutions to institute a sexual assault policy. The remaining provincesand territories do not have similar legislation. In absence of such legislation, using the case study of Alberta, we examined how equipped post-secondary institutions in this province are to assist students in need. Utilizing publicly available data we examined: 1) whether Alberta’s post-secondary institutions have a sexual violence policy which is readily and easily accessible to the student; and 2) the ease with which students can access university resources and support services for sexual violence. The results indicate that most institutions do not have an accessible policy and support services for students in need. We are hopeful that this study can inform those designing and advocating for sexual violence policies on campus to institute measures to clarify institutions’ sexual violence policies, increase accessibility to those policies, create policies where they are missing, and work on clarifying the availability of resources for students on and off campus.
  • Departmental Engagement in Doctoral Professional Development: Lessons from Political Science

    Berdahl, Loleen; Malloy, Jonathan (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-08-23)
    There is widespread discussion about the need to develop and enhance the career prospects of PhD graduates, and many Canadian universities are seeking to provide professional development programs and mentorship specifically for doctoral students. This paper considers doctoral career preparation from thedepartment level through an in-depth examination of how Canadian political science departments approach the issue, drawing on a survey of department chairs. We find that departments are supportive of professional development; while departments are not in the position to provide extensive programs andstruggle to integrate efforts systematically, they are well-positioned to participate in collaborative approaches and welcome improved communication and coordination. We argue that graduate faculties should consult with departments and engage them in professional development program design, perhapstailoring to specific disciplines as needed, and that departments should look for opportunities to work with graduate faculties before initiating their own programs.
  • Stead, Virginia (Ed.) (2017). A Guide to LGBTQ+ Inclusion on Campus, Post-PULSE.

    Hocker, Kristin (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-08-24)
  • Practical Measures for Institutional Program Reviews: A Case Study of a Small Post-Secondary Institution

    Jayachandran, John; Neufeldt, Colin; Smythe, Elizabeth; Franke, Oliver (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, 2019-08-23)
    Post-secondary institutions carry out cyclical program reviews (CPRs) to assess educational effectiveness. CPRs often use both qualitative and quantitative data analyses with the aim of improving teaching and learning. Though most of the CPR review studies identify various factors for this purpose, they fail to identify measures/indicators that are relevant and practical for the institutional decision-making process. Our main objectives for this article are two-fold: first, we identify and list variables that are measurable and sort theminto clusters/groups that are relevant to all programs, and second, we critically assess the relevance of these indicators to program review in a small-sized, post-secondary institution.

View more