Innovation in Post-Secondary Education

Canada’s post-secondary institutions are well-positioned to support a better post-pandemic future for all Canadians. They are accessible and diverse in mission and scope, attractive for international students, and responsive to labour market signals.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the constraints under which Canada’s post-secondary education (PSE) institutions work, these institutions have shown great adaptability and resilience through the pandemic.

Innovation in Post-Secondary Education, the latest report in the Skills for the Post-Pandemic World project, examines illustrative examples of how PSE institutions have responded to labour market challenges in innovative ways that are learner-centred and accessible. Authors Stacey J. Young (external link) , Fiona M. Deller (external link) , and Karen E. McCallum (external link)  also develop key recommendations for how the government can support greater capacity for program innovation and opportunities for timely and accessible education and training opportunities.

Numerous layers of approval, both internal to the university and within the governments that fund them, make it difficult for PSE institutions to respond quickly and nimbly to labour market demands. Some institutions have developed workaround solutions for industry's “just-in-time” needs through continuing education, micro-credentials and other non-traditional avenues. However, these types of programs are either only partially funded by the government, or entirely unfunded, and the quality control mechanisms or opportunities for assessment are not as well developed as more traditional programs. 

The increasingly rapid pace of change means that education and training providers that can be agile and responsive will have the advantage, which is motivating more institutions to develop new offerings that follow these non-traditional pathways. The authors maintain that post-secondary education systems must seek to reward experimentation and risk while supporting stability. Increasing capacity for program innovations that promote accessible and responsive opportunities for life-long learning can also strengthen their ability to respond to crises such as COVID-19 as well as future trends in education and work.

“The ways in which institutions needed to adapt to the circumstances of COVID-19 were largely unanticipated. While it is impossible to forecast what the next crisis will be, or where the next impetus for change will come from, institutions can learn from this experience and develop more sustained approaches to how they can embed the principles of flexibility and responsiveness into curricular development and credentialing to ensure they can meet the changing needs of learners as they arise,” the authors argue.

They detail five policy considerations that are necessary to support this kind of innovative program development in the PSE sector:

1. Government must consider the match between institution type and response to an external labour-market need
2. Fund appropriately
3. Support flexibility
4. Assess quality
5. Develop and use competency frameworks

The Skills for the Post-Pandemic World project tackles key questions facing policymakers, employers, training providers and workers. It is urgent that society turn to face the fundamental changes in the labour market precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and many players must rise to meet the new conditions of a post-pandemic world.

Building on the collaborative success of the Skills Next series, the Public Policy Forum (external link)  (PPF) and the Diversity Institute (DI), funded by the Future Skills Centre (external link)  (FSC) with new support from Microsoft, come together again to face these rapid societal shifts head-on, with research looking at the future of skills, training and retraining in ways that will chart a path forward as the pandemic continues to unfold.