Alex Usher: How Canada is Paying for Ontario’s Higher Education Debacle

After the federal government capped the number of international students it let into Canada many colleges and universities saw a drastic decrease in enrollment. As a result colleges are slashing programs while universities struggle to balance their books. Why is this happening and who is responsible? Alex Usher, a sector expert and higher education consultant, joins Mike Moffatt and Sabrina Maddeaux in this week’s episode of the Missing Middle podcast. They discuss the impact of international students on the housing crisis, the financial challenges faced by colleges and universities and the implications of recent policy changes particularly in trades programs and apprenticeships. Chapters00:00 Introduction 01:35 Summary higher education policy changes04:23 Decreasing rents in southern Ontario05:26 How Canada pays for Ontario’s mismanagement06:36 The disproportionate impact on northern and rural colleges08:16 Are trades programs at risk?12:13 Why should we care about the college sector?14:21Universites have unique challenges 16:40 Why has the Ford government escaped security? 17:49 Feel richer now policies19:17 Higher education focused policy ideas18:47 Long-term solutions for higher education challengesLinksHow Colleges Broke Canadian ImmigrationCreditsGuest: Alex Usher https://higheredstrategy.com/about/alex-usher-7/https://x.com/alexusherhesa?lang=enhttps://bsky.app/profile/alexusherhesa.bsky.socialHosts: Sabrina Maddeaux https://x.com/SabrinaMaddeaux Mike Moffatt https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt https://bsky.app/profile/mikepmoffatt.bsky.socialProducer: Meredith Martin https://twitter.com/meredithmartin https://bsky.app/profile/meredithmartin.bsky.social, https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredith-martin-21108165/This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/Brought to you by the Missing Middle Initiative https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina MaddeauxProduced by Meredith MartinFunded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/