As institutions grapple with ways of attracting and retaining students who are underrepresented in higher education, more attention is being focused on the physical space. In this episode of It’sNotAcademic, we talk to Gary McCluskie, a principal with Diamond Schmitt Architects, a Toronto architecture firm.

It’s an often heard complaint. University and college graduates lack the skills that employers seek. They don’t have what it takes to thrive in today’s rapidly changing workplace. To look at this issue, the Business Council of Canada brought together representatives from some of Canada’s largest companies and those from postsecondary institutions to create the Business Higher Education Roundtable. What skills are employers looking for in new hires? Do young Canadians have them? And what can universities and colleges do to ensure they are teaching the skills that employers require?

In this episode, we speak with Val Walker, vice-president of talent and skills at the Business Council and the head of the roundtable. Val tells us how employer expectations are changing, what this means for colleges and universities, and the mutual benefits of work-integrated learning.

Two years ago, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued 94 calls to action, or recommendations, urging all levels of government to implement policies to acknowledge and redress the harm caused by residential schools to Indigenous people. Several of the recommendations urged governments, schools and postsecondary institutions to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into the classroom and to make instruction of residential schools, treaties and Indigenous people’s contributions to Canada a mandatory part of the curriculum. Several institutions have heeded the call.

But Confederation College, which is based in Thunder Bay, was way ahead. Together with the Negahneewin Council, it has been working since 2007 to embed Indigenous content into its programs through what it calls Indigenous Learning Outcomes. The Indigenous Learning Outcomes were created to help students foster an understanding of Indigenous culture and worldview. About 95 percent of Confederation’s programs include two or more Indigenous Learning Outcomes and the college’s goal is to have all programs do so. A project to create a critical-thinking assessment tool based on the Indigenous Learning Outcomes and Indigenous understandings of critical thinking is part of HEQCO’s Learning Outcomes Assessment Consortium.

This episode of the podcast features Brenda Small, vice president of Confederation’s Centre for Policy and Research in Indigenous Learning, to discuss Indigenous Learning Outcomes, how they are being implemented at Confederation and their role in the process of reconciliation.

Welcome to the latest episode of It’sNotAcademic: the podcast – education conversations from HEQCO. Enrolment rates at Canadian universities and colleges have gone up considerably over the past two decades. That’s the good news. But, for a whole host of reasons, not all students who enrol in a degree or diploma program successfully complete it. Postsecondary institutions have started to turn their attention to boosting retention rates. They offer a variety of programs and services to support students, like transition and orientation programs for first-year students, mentoring programs and academic-support classes. Since 2012, Mohawk College has teamed up with the Education Policy Research Initiative to test and evaluate strategies aimed at improving student retention. In today’s episode we look at what Mohawk has learned, and how the research has influenced the way the college supports its students.

Welcome to the latest episode of It’sNotAcademic: the podcast - education conversations from HEQCO. Last month, HEQCO invited experts from across Canada and the world to take part in a two-day workshop examining a big question: “How do you assess quality in higher education?” One of the participants was Hamish Coates, professor of higher education at the University of Melbourne. After the workshop, Dr. Coates and HEQCO President and CEO Harvey Weingarten sat down to discuss what’s been happening in Australia’s higher education system and what lessons this holds for Ontario. Here’s what they had to say.

In anticipation of our Rethinking Access conference we have explored many dimensions of access on this podcast, but one area we have not yet discussed is the skilled trades. The trades are often left out of conversations about postsecondary education, despite the demand and opportunities that are available to students.

Bobby Watt is a keynote speaker at the Rethinking Access conference and president of RJW-Gem Campbell Stonemasons Inc. He is an expert in the conservation of historic buildings, including a project on Canada’s Parliament buildings. He is also an educator who helped establish the stonemasonry program at Durham College and the Guild Institute, the training facility of the Canadian Guild of Stone and Restoration Masons.

In this episode of the podcast, Bobby talks about his fascinating personal journey into the trades and how he sees the current opportunities for students.

It’sNotAcademic – The podcast: Episode four with Jay Gosselin

Welcome to the latest episode of ItsNotAcademic – the podcast, education conversations from HEQCO. The importance of mentorship and positive role models is often discussed in conversations around promoting access to higher education. Obviously these concepts are important, but why? What need do mentors serve and how do you identify and connect with students who need them most?

The guest this episode is Jay Gosselin, a long-time student services professional and the founder of MentorU and the Discover Year program, an entrepreneurial initiative aimed at addressing these difficult questions. He is also a speaker at HEQCO’s upcoming Rethinking Access conference. We spoke to Jay about the purpose of his program, the nature of the students who use it and the impact he sees.

Welcome to the latest episode of ItsNotAcademic: The podcast – education conversations from HEQCO.

The Rethinking Access conference is taking place April 19 and 20 and one of the recurring themes that runs through the panel discussions is the role of early intervention programs and strategies. By the time they graduate from high school, many students have already made up their minds about whether they can or will pursue postsecondary studies.

Early intervention programs offer supports to students at a much younger ager to help them imagine themselves on campus and figure out how to get there. This sounds great in concept, but what does an early intervention program for underrepresented groups actually look like? On this week’s episode we look at one case study: the Hamilton Community Foundation’s ABACUS program, which targets students in the middle school years.

Sarah Glen, manager of the foundation’s community initiatives, and Jennifer Pearson, project coordinator, tell us how the ABACUS program works.

We talk to Mehnaz Tabassum, student success advisor at Centennial College. In her current role at Centennial and previously at Pathways to Education, Mehnaz has worked to reduce barriers that can prevent students from moving on to postsecondary and succeeding while there. Hear Mehnaz talk about her experiences growing up and how they helped shape the work she does.

It's Not Academic, the podcast - education conversations from HEQCO. In the first episode we speak with May Wong, Executive Director of the Omega Foundation.