Tuition Policy & Politics in Canada: Lessons From 3 Episodes of Major Policy Change
Channel: MIPR umanitoba
Date: 2015-06-01

Dr. Deanna Rexe (Simon Fraser University) delivers a lecture on her thesis work. Tuition fees serve a vital role in financing the public post-secondary system as well as figuring prominently in the broader debate on the appropriate balance of cost sharing between the public and the individual. Much of what we understand about post-secondary policy involves policy outcomes; indeed, the policy debate around tuition fees typically illustrates competing views of the impact of different tuition prices on individuals, institutions, professions, and Canadian society more generally. What is less clear is why particular tuition policy ideas, narratives, and options prevail in political contests in any given social, political, or economic climate.

In this talk, Rexe presented results from her dissertation research, a comparative case study of three episodes of significant policy change in British Colombia, Ontario, and Manitoba. This research builds upon an emerging international field of enquiry, policy and politics of higher education, and contributes important empirical, descriptive and conceptual findings to the Canadian literature on post-secondary policy. She will describe the five conditions associated with major tuition policy change, how the practice of politics is central to tuition policy formation in Canada, and what influence strategies successful policy actors use in these venues.

By bringing together government, practitioners, scholars and members of the community, the Manitoba Institute for Policy Research will further debates and discussion on matters of policy development, administration, and analysis both in Manitoba and across the country.

Currently we are working with the Government of Manitoba, the Federal Government, the United Way of Winnipeg, and other voluntary sector agencies on developing and implementing new outreach, training, and research opportunities.