In one of the keynote addresses to the annual conference of National University Board Chairs and Secretaries, AIMS president Brian Lee Crowley suggested universities need to prepare for a brave new world, where students are international and the post-secondary education market is global. He warned that ignoring the signs will make today’s brick and mortar 
institutions irrelevent.
Others invited to address the conference included former Ontario Premier Bob Rae who leads the Ontario Royal Commission on Post-Secondary Education, and Eva Egron Polak from the International Association of Universities in Paris.
Former Ontario Premier
Bob Rae also spoke
to the conference.
Crowley told the guardians of Canada’s post-secondary education, “Today’s universities in my opinion have become lethargic, with little apparent institutional interest and concern for the relevance and usefulness of the curriculum, and demonstrating little or no capability for innovation.”
“In most universities there is little or no co-ordinated and deliberate interest from the individual faculty member, the department, Faculty or Senate as to whether programs actually satisfy the rapidly evolving needs of students and the marketplace, let alone that the courses are always available when the students need them in order to graduate within four years,” he said. “And as for the idea of a continuous degree program (i.e. a twelve-month operation) permitting early completion, if it is raised, it is only to dismiss it.”
Click here to read the complete paper by Brian Lee Crowley, Students Without Borders.
