Protests in Quebec over planned tuition increases during the past academic year have sparked a considerable amount of debate over the current state of post-secondary education in Canada. Frontier Centre analysts have been active participants in this debate, and the Frontier Centre has become one of the country’s leading sources of public policy analysis on wide range of policy issues surrounding higher education.
Specifically, the Frontier Centre has recently published research papers, op-ed columns and radio commentaries analyzing a number of issues related to higher education in Canada, including the relationship between tuition fees and university access as well as strategies for measuring and improving quality in undergraduate education.
Below are links to several recent Frontier Centre publications that address these and other issues related to post-secondary education in Canada:
“Tuition Levels and Post-Secondary Participation, Not Linked,” by Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen
In this op-ed, co-authors Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen respond to a column written by Iglika Ivanova from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and explain why low-tuition does little to promote access to higher education in the Canada.
“Students Should Be Upset – Just Not About Tuition,” by Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen
In this op-ed, co-authors Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen argue that students currently protesting in Quebec would have a legitimate grievance if they focused instead on the declining quality of post-secondary education in Canada.
“When Will There Be An End to Student Unrest in Quebec,” by Peter McCaffrey
In this radio commentary, Roger Curie reads a brief piece written by Frontier Policy Analyst Peter McCaffrey that points out that the real problem behind student unrest in Quebec is that tuition fees have barely increased at all over the last 33 years.
- http://archive.fcpp.org/media.php/2040
“Student Protests and University Salaries,” by Rodney Clifton
In this op-ed, Senior Scholar at the University of Manitoba and Senior Fellow at the Frontier Centre Rodney Clifton points out that a large proportion of tuition revenues go towards compensating university professors and presidents, and that as a result, protesting students should join taxpayers to demonstrate against increasing compensation costs.
“Universities Are Subsidizing Graduate Students at the expense of Undergraduates,” by Rodney Clifton
In this op-ed, Senior Scholar at the University of Manitoba and Senior Fellow at the Frontier Centre Rodney Clifton points out that, despite provincial and federal efforts to invest more dollars into post-secondary education, universities have been diverting many of their resources into educating graduate students at the expense of undergraduates.
“Tuition Fees and University Participation for Youth from Low-Income Families” by Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen
In this policy study, co-authors Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen examine Statistics Canada data to determine the relationship between tuition fees and university participation rates in Canada, for both youth in general and youth from low-income families.
“Tuition Fees and University Participation for Youth From Low-Income Families,” by Ben Eisen and Jonathan Wensveen
In this radio commentary, Roger Curie reads a short excerpt written by Frontier Policy Analyst Ben Eisen on the relationship between tuition fees and university participation rates for youth from low-income families in Canada.
