The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences is sponsoring a National Dialogue on Higher Education in November in Ottawa.
How is it a dialogue? They have an online forum and at the conference there will be “Table Talk” sessions at meals. There has also been a lot of discussion behind the scenes between the organizations sponsoring this. I can’t help feeling, however, that some of this is about promoting higher education outside the academy.
A quote from the introduction to the program:
More people than ever before are pursuing higher education in our institutions, in the
workplace, in retirement. The trend has sparked a series of profound public consultations over
the past five years and inspired significant investments in recent federaland provincial budgets.
These measures have changed the policy environment and highlighted the need for a truly
national dialogue on higher education.
ï What do our diverse post-secondary education systems contribute to individuals,
communities, provinces and the country? What should they contribute?
ï What are the social and economic benefits of PSE?
ï What can we learn from our different provincial systems?
ï What are the effects of current federal funding arrangements?
ï What choices are needed for Aboriginal, immigrant and lifelong learners and students
from every walk of life to access the higher education they want?
ï What can we learn from the experience of other countries?