In Canada, non-permanent faculty are no longer simply a reserve, flexible labour pool available for administrators to draw on when needed (e.g. during times of fluctuating enrollments); rather, they represent a strategy utilized by universities to reduce overall labour costs. In this article I bring together Women's Studies, feminism, contingent…

Mergers have been a frequent phenomenon in higher education in the last quarter century. The conventional wisdom is that mergers are undertaken mainly for economic reasons, either to expand markets or to reduce costs. About four out of five college or university mergers survive. In the for-profit sector the comparable rate is closer to two out of…

Critiques the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation's claim that recent research indicates that "Canada must move beyond its focus on student financial assistance" as a means of ensuring access to postsecondary education since "three out of four Canadian youth cite non-financial reasons to explain why those chose not to pursue postsecondary…

Based on personal ethnographic experience of "becoming the phenomenon" of migrant laborer in Canada's postsecondary education system, critically examines three anthropological perspectives--the neoclassical, the historical structuralist, and the neo-Marxist--on labor migration. Argues that both migrant laborers and sessional lecturers have become…

Explores how, for a student of Canadian federalism and postsecondary education, one theme that keeps recurring is the number of times these two dimensions of public policy have been connected; over and over again, changes in the governance and financing of education, and especially postsecondary or higher education, have presaged more general…

Examines the thesis process from both student and faculty supervisory perspectives, using the experience of the joint authors as an example. Identifies and questions four assumptions underlying thesis supervision, such as "the supervisor and committee are experts whereas the student is a novice being initiated into the culture." Concludes that the…

Describes some experiences of a female associate dean in a university faculty within the framework of a typology of power to reveal its changing nature. The typology contains five components of power: power over others; structural factors; power through others (facilitative power); power with others (empowerment); and personal power. (Author/MSE)

A model is presented explaining why recent cutbacks in government grants, cost pressures on university budgets, tuition increase caps, and declining interest in attending less prestigious institutions have resulted in pressure on tenure in Canadian universities. Unless tenure is reconsidered, universities may face increasing faculty…

Discussion of the scholarship of college teaching looks at its nature, its definition, and how such scholarship can lead to development and advancement of teaching. Examples of the scholarship of teaching and of institutional policies supporting it are drawn from Canadian universities. Lists of journals and conferences at which to publish and…

A study of the influence of academic discipline, sex and nationality on the definition of the role of the head of a university department indicates the importance of discipline, the coordinator or representative role, and the lack of influence of nationality on expectations. (JMF)

The community college as it has developed in Britsh Columbia is examined with special attention to the social and historical context, the forces which lead to its establishment, and the particular form of institution which emerged. How the college attains its objectives and major problems and issues for the future are discussed. (JMF)

Assumptions about academic staffing in Canadian universities are examined in light of the combined effects of the expansionist 1960s and the depressed 1970s. Six critical issues that require attention in the higher education community are presented for examination, including mid-career alternatives and the need for objective data. (JMF)

The politics of evaluation of instruction in higher education, including an exploration of the processes by which a policy on evaluation is formulated, reformulated, adopted and implemented, is discussed. Suggestions are offered for increasing the chances of implementing an effective evaluation program. (JMD)

It is argued that workshops for lecture improvement in higher education tend to concentrate on delivery techniques, whereas improvement programs should maintain a broad perspective on lecture useage, which might include consideration of the design of lecture courses, variation of teaching methods, and attention to student lecture learning skills.…

Sources of disenchantment with behavioral sciences research are examined, including research paradigms and problems in discarding them when they are dysfunctional, and politics, academic policies, and the reward structures of research and publication. (MSE)