Naylor has a vision. The rest of us don’t

This, in part, brings us to the number one problem in Canadian higher education; a complete lack of nation vision and direction.

Nobody is able to set direction, not the federal government, not even the provincial governments. Direction in higher education is set by dozens of independently minded, self-focused institution boards. Even these bodies are often little more than glorified rubber stamps for institutional executive heads.

One only needs to look at the current situation in Nova Scotia to see one of the more blatant examples of institutions thumbing their nose at provincial oversight. I’ll paraphrase in this skit:

*Province to University: We have too many people graduating with a bachelor’s of education. There’s not enough jobs for them.
*University: Your point?
*Province: We’re not granting you the privilege of granting those degrees; there are too many of them being handed out.
*University: Go sc*&# yourself! I’ll offer the program and get a university from another province to grant the degree!

In the United States, the state-wide university systems operate with a strong central oversight. They have statewide governing bodies which set direction for the system and they operate as part of a state-wide high education plan. This creates an ability to focus individual campus on set goals and to give them a sense of individual direction while fulfilling larger goals.

In Canada, the provinces can plan all they want. The plans may even be good. If implemented, they may even be in the interests of the greater good. Sadly, all it takes is one university to ignore the public good in favour of its own interests and the plan isn’t worth it’s weight in sand.

Increasing the graduate intensity of a few universities in Canada (UAlberta, UBC and McGill, for example) is in the greater public interest but I doubt Naylor’s peers at Ontario’s other research-obsessed intensive universities are willing to play their part in the greater scheme of things.

In the end, this is not a University of Toronto issue. It is not even a provincial issue. Canada is facing an intellectual deficit and the only way to solve this national deficit is with a national plan.

Don’t hold your breath, Canada’s not in last place yet. But we are below average. So, it’s not yet crisis enough for governments to act.