They might be missing something. In the Times Higher Education ranking of world universities, only five Canadian schools made the Top 100. Australia, with a smaller population than ours, boasts seven. As to cutting-edge research? Canada has won only 19 major academic awards since the 1940s, putting us at 12th in the world, tied with Israel. And the money backing our system? There are five universities in the United States alone that each have more resources than all Canadian universities combined.
Ultimately, the ministers were hesitant to offer much support for Big Five proposals—like the call for an “innovation summit” with industry leaders, governments, and universities—that could impinge upon areas of provincial authority. Still, it seems some provinces, especially those with a Big Five school, have gone some way toward adopting a Big Five attitude.
Case in point: Alberta—“the first province to have developed a differentiated system for advanced education,” explains Donna Babchisin, spokesperson for the province’s Ministry of Advanced Education and Technology. A few years ago, the province instituted a strict, six-sector model that divides and classifies all post-secondary schools—from big universities to technical colleges. That allows it to stream funding into the “Comprehensive Academic and Research Institutions” category. “Alberta is moving very much in the direction of focusing its research,” says Babchisin. But does that mean it dictates what schools must study? “It doesn’t delineate what the priorities are,” she stresses. “It provides a way for the research system to get together to work on priorities.”
B.C. and Ontario also say that they have taken steps toward a differentiated post-secondary system, whereby it is understood that not all schools will be undertaking top research. “I would say that the institutions in B.C. know each other and know of each other,” says Stillwell, “and are good at recognizing each other’s strength and understanding their own.”
The same provinces also say they’ve taken aggressive measures to forge stronger links “between the dream and the drugstore,” as Stilwell says—that is, between universities and industry. B.C. praises its industrial liaison offices and innovation council. Alberta has streamlined its innovation infrastructure, amalgamating 10 research and innovation organizations into five. And for Ontario, Milloy is both minister of training, colleges and universities and head of the recently developed Ministry of Research and Innovation.
Still, while some provinces acknowledge the need for broad-based change, they suggest that institutions already exist to make it happen. Norris, for one, underscores the need to “re-invigorate” Canada’s Council of Ministers of Education rather than trying to bring together industry, government and universities at one table. “I think an ongoing dialogue through the institution that already exists—that is, CMEC—can do a fair amount of work,” Norris says. And while many acknowledge that education is underfunded, they are more likely to extol the need for an across-the-board spending boost than to pledge support for a system that would more narrowly direct funds to priority schools.
In the end, the provinces are calling not for radical reform, but for more of what we already have. Still, there are signs that more provinces are on the road to trading post-secondary equity for a more strategic innovation policy. “We’ve got a lot of inquiries from other [Canadian] jurisdictions” about the differentiated system, says Alberta’s Babchishin. Could this be the Big Five’s influence at work? “It’s quite recent,” she says. “It’s a real desire and appetite to have clarity and alignment.”
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