Number 207, 2025 Special Issue: Policy Choices Facing Canadian Universities Guest-edited by Michael Buzzelli and Vicki Squires

EN:

Campuses are focusing on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives and programs as a response to urgent calls for higher education institutions to exemplify these principles. This study focused on determining the current environment for embedding EDI principles to identify next steps in galvanizing efforts in this work. This qualitative multi-case study had two phases. In the first phase, we conducted an environmental scan of the websites of the 15 research-intensive universities in Canada (U15) to determine how EDI efforts were included in any publicly available documents and on the websites. In the second phase, we conducted semi-structured interviews with members of an EDI Champions committee at one campus to explore how the EDI commitments were being actualized on that campus. Participants confirmed that work was ongoing but that determining a shared understanding of EDI, articulating a strategy for implementation, and promoting EDI efforts on campus faced many challenges including creating understanding and commitment across campus to further the EDI strategies. Campuses need a well-articulated strategy complete with processes and targets to inform campus members about EDI, determine ways to support action, and articulate ways to measure progress against EDI goals.

EN:

In this paper, we share testimonies from interviews with 29 faculty deans from universities across Canada and Australia who have been targeted by bullies, and we examine how their institutions responded. Often silenced, we expose the consequences of institutional (in)actions on the identity and well-being of these leaders and document the impact of inadequate policies and procedures that deans are trusted to protect and support them. These stories combine to create a collective force calling for institutional courage to address incivility and bullying, as well as to challenge the culture that enables and reinforces it. We conclude with recommendations that institutions can implement to proactively protect and support deans to mitigate bullying in higher education.

EN:

Over the last 30 years, Canadian post-secondary institutions have been developing specific programs, supports, and services to support Indigenous student access to and persistence through post-secondary education. Part of the ongoing work of decolonization, reconciliation, and Indigenization is challenging a colonially imposed definition of success (e.g., GPA, degree completion within 4 years) to consider Indigenous students’ experiences and their success more wholistically. This project aimed to identify how Indigenous student success is supported by institutional policies, programs, and practices. The research process included conducting an Indigenous qualitative content analysis of 74 universities and 158 colleges (i.e., public, English, and French) websites along with six semi-structured interviews with various program providers. This article examines how Canadian post-secondary institutions can wholistically support Indigenous students’ educational journeys through effective policies, programs, and practices that enhance access, facilitate transitions, and foster persistence. The analysis found 47 access, 64 transition, and 50 persistence programs specifically for Indigenous students. The analysis also raised crucial questions related to program sustainability. Further research is needed to understand the impact of these initiatives on the persistence of the next seven generations.

EN:

In this paper, we seek to examine how organizational norms and structures in Canadian university sport perpetuate a culture that does not adequately address maltreatment, harassment, and abuse that affects women athletes. Our examination focuses on two inter-related questions. First, how do safe sport policies highlight gendering practices in university athletics? And second, how is safety problematized in safe sport policies? In addressing our research question, we apply genderwashing as a conceptual framework, alongside Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem” approach to analyze the USPORTS and Western University’s safe sport policies. Our analysis reveals that safe sport policies demonstrate genderwashing practices in their use of gender-neutral language. The use of gender-neutral language within these policies contributes to an erasure of women athletes’ experiences, and a reluctance to engage with issues of gender violence in sport. We suggest addressing this issue will require a commitment to creating a safe sport culture that recognizes gender, and other axis of identity, as relevant to athletes’ diverse experiences and understanding of safety within Canadian university sport.

FR:

Les systèmes d’enseignement supérieur sont au coeur des sociétés du savoir et de la production scientifique. Dans la plupart des pays, les grandes universités de recherche comptent pour une partie importante du financement de recherche et des publications. Si plusieurs études ont examiné la gouvernance de ces établissements, peu d’écrits se sont penchés sur le rôle des conseils d’administration dans ces établissements. L’objectif de cet article est donc d’explorer le rôle des conseils d’administration dans le soutien à la mission de recherche des grandes universités de recherche au Canada. L’étude qualitative exploratoire s’appuie sur des entretiens semi-structurés avec les membres du conseil d’administration de sept universités dans cinq provinces. La thématisation en continu suggère que les conseils d’administration contribuent à un environnement organisationnel favorable à la recherche, placent la recherche au coeur des enjeux stratégiques de l’université, assurent le contrôle de la gestion financière de l’établissement et, dans le cas des membres externes, lient la communauté universitaire à la société.

EN:

Higher education systems are at the core of knowledge societies’ scientific production. In most countries, research universities account for an important proportion of research funding and publications. Although several studies have examined the governance of these institutions, few studies have focused on the role of university boards. The objective of this article is to explore boards’ roles in supporting the research mission of large research universities in Canada. The exploratory qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews with board members of seven universities in five provinces. Continuous thematization suggests that boards of trustees contribute to an organizational environment favorable to research, put research at the top of universities’ strategic issues, controlling institutions’ financial management and, in the case of external members, link the academic community to society.

EN:

Quality assurance (QA) processes oversee programmatic creation and cyclical reviews to ensure the quality of academic programming for students. In Canada, university oversight, including funding and QA, takes place at the provincial level. Oversight of quality varies dramatically across regions in Canada, from government ministries to arm’s-length quality assurance agencies to internal university governance. Our research compares the guiding documents of Canadian QA agencies from across Canada to answer the questions: (1) How do external QA procedures vary in provinces across Canada, and (2) Is financial viability considered in QA? Our results suggest a distinct lack of specificity in multiple areas, most profoundly in the financial considerations. Consequently, in the fifth section, and based on our findings, we propose a Financial Viability and Sustainability Framework for Quality Assurance (FVSF-QA) as a tool for supporting consideration of financial viability and stability in quality assurance.

EN:

The university’s core teaching mission is being reshaped by the proliferation of experiential learning (EL) pedagogies. The rise of EL is also constituting new connections between the university and its local community, relationships necessary for EL itself to be delivered. This research examines how universities confront these new and mutually interdependent dimensions of teaching and societal engagement. Using qualitative thematic content analysis, the paper documents and analyses university senate deliberations on EL at twelve (12) representative institutions in Canada for the period from 2012 to 2022 (n = 922 monthly meetings). Focusing on senate discussions on matters such as internal university EL governance, engagement with community partners, and impacts on learners and learning, the paper presents a novel analysis of the Canadian university’s understanding and development of EL in this phase of expansion. The paper concludes with a discussion of institutional and sector policy implications for the teaching and learning mission.