Innovation in Post-Secondary Education

Canada’s post-secondary institutions are well positioned for the future, thanks to innovative approaches and a willingness to use technological advances in education. COVID-19 has challenged these institutions, but they have showed adaptability under pressure by accelerating their adoption of innovations. However, some challenges predate the pandemic such as better inclusion of equity-seeking groups in higher education. Better funding models and greater flexibility can build greater resilience and agility into the system while addressing long-standing challenges and inequities.

Key Takeaways

While COVID-19 has accelerated the rate of change, many technology-related trends in education had already begun before the pandemic. The key to sustainable change is finding ways to embed flexibility and responsiveness into curriculum development so it can meet external demands (including from students, workers, governments, and employers) as they arise.
The intensity of demand for certain innovations to services and program delivery will drop post-pandemic, but many of the changes begun or accelerated in response to COVID-19 will retain value in the future and become entrenched in the culture and activities of Canada’s post-secondary education sector.
Rapid responses to crises or societal changes can be slowed by ponderous program approval processes and the rigid mechanics of funding regimes. PSE institutions have managed to find some workarounds that have enabled rapid innovation at the edge, but these workarounds are not sustainable over the long term and need to be integrated into mainstream funding and credentialing systems to persist and spread.

Innovation in Post-Secondary Education

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Canada’s post-secondary institutions are well-positioned to prepare the country for a prosperous future — they are accessible and diverse in mission and scope, offering a wide range of program offerings and formats. Despite the constraints imposed by their funding, quality control and regulatory mechanisms, they demonstrate responsiveness and innovation to labour market signals and challenges. For its part, COVID-19 has laid bare both the challenges faced by the system and the institutions within it and their ability to respond quickly, efficiently and innovatively in times of crisis. And although the Canadian system does a good job of promoting access to the post-secondary education (PSE) system, there remain significant opportunity gaps that are being filled by program innovations that circumvent the existing set of rules regarding program approval, quality and funding regimes.

Through the selection of innovative case studies, we highlight examples of how PSE institutions strive to be labour market responsive in ways that are learner-centred and accessible. However, to continue to meet the demands of the future, we conclude with some recommendations for how governments may support greater capacity for program innovation and opportunities for timely and accessible education and training opportunities.

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Thank you to our partners

Skills for the Post-Pandemic World series is funded by the Government of Canada’s Future Skills Program

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About the Authors

Stacey J. Young, Fiona M. Deller, and Karen E. McCallum

Stacey J. Young is the Principal Consultant at Fiona Deller and Associates, and works with Canadian and European education-focused, non-profit organizations. She has 25 years’ experience in the education, higher education, government and non-profit sectors in Ontario, with a focus on funding, strategic and sector planning, policy and program development and research and program evaluation. She has held senior leadership positions at Pathways to Education Canada, the Ontario Council for Articulation and Transfer and The Learning Partnership (TLP), where she transformed the way learners were assessed for entrepreneurial and communication competencies. Stacey has a BA and an MA in social anthropology and sociology and a doctorate in higher education from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She has taught higher education policy and practice and worked in advisory capacities at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, OCAD University and York University. She is published in the areas of the history of higher education higher education finance and policy, the political economy of higher education and credit transfer and university differentiation.

Fiona M. Deller has spent much of her career conducting research and evaluation, creating policy and designing programs related to student equity, success and access to post-secondary education. Before starting her own consulting business, Deller previously held senior management positions with the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO), the Council of Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC) and has worked for the Ontario and federal governments. Deller also taught program evaluation and research design for eight years at Ryerson University. She is passionate about designing practical solutions that meet students’ needs, and creating an accessible, user-friendly educational ecosystem. Fiona has a BA and MA from McGill in history and a doctorate from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at University of Toronto in the field of higher education theory and policy.

Karen E. McCallum has a social sciences background with degrees from the University of Waterloo and McMaster University, and a PhD in Human Rights from the University of London (U.K.). After six years studying abroad, she returned to Canada in 2019 and re-engaged with Canadian policy and research, focusing on equity for members of marginalized groups. Previously, she worked as a Senior Research Associate at Ryerson’s Diversity Institute-Future Skills where she published widely on equity and diversity.