That's what the rigorous accreditation is all about. What is important is quality assurance. We are serving students and it doesn't make a darn difference if it's Canadian or American. The DeVry president understands the emotional reactions to the proliferation of private institutions but argues that the world students are graduating into is a global one, suggesting they need to be prepared for that reality. For academics and others opposed to for-profit schools, that is exactly the problem.
Education is referred to as an industry now.
And a big-bucks one at that. One of Laxer's concerns with private schools is increased cost to the students, and tuition at universities like DeVry is higher than the University of Alberta's, for example. Costs aside, the bigger problem is still a philosophical one, as Smith argues it is the provincial government's desire to privatize more and more. The worst part about it is the quiet way in which the government has instituted these privatization ideals, similar to the health care issues surrounding Bill 11. Smith says there was no debate on the DeVry issue, and the refusal to debate means there is a split between the public and the government.