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Retrenchment Watch Newsletter
Tiffany MacLennan, Iain Wilson, HESA, 2025/02/10

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HESA has launched something called the Retrenchment Watch Newsletter, "a new initiative tracking how Canadian post-secondary institutions are reacting to current financial challenges." As the name suggests, the expectation is that current trends will continue, and that the post-secondary education sector in Canada will continue to shrink. This is reflected by both recent immigration policy as well as institutional budget deficits. HESA has also launched what it calls the "Recovery Project" that "helps (presumably for a fee?) Canadian colleges, polytechnics, and universities navigate financial challenges by providing insights and facilitating peer learning and collaborative action."

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State of Higher Ed LMS Market for US and Canada: Year-End 2024 Edition
Phil Hill, On EdTech Newsletter, 2025/02/10

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Here we have another LMS market report from Phil Hill, and as before we caution that this is a very narrow slice, looking only at LMS use by institution in the U.S. and Canada (I think it would be interesting to look at the same data split between Canada and the U.S., since I'm not so sure we're a single market any more). Worthy of note, aside from the long and continued decline of Blackboard, is the rise of Populi over the last few years. Populi's pitch is integration: "Software from another era can't handle today's challenges. You need an SIS and an LMS, billing software and financial aid, a CRM for admissions, some way to run reports, and so much more."

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A UK Skills Taxonomy
Jyl Djumalieva, Cath Sleeman, Nesta, 2025/02/10

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Over time we will no longer use taxonomies. But for now, they're still useful to help us make sense of complex domains. And that's the case here with the Nesta skills taxonomy. Though designed for the U.K. economy, the division of skills also includes approximate salaries for each skill as well as changes in demand for each. That said, the taxonomy is based on an analysis of employment opportunities, and "a cautious approach is recommended when interpreting these results, as a change in skill mentions within adverts may not always reflect a change in skill demands." See also: PISA-VET, WEF's Reskilling Initiative, Lightcast's Open Skills Library.

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We publish six to eight or so short posts every weekday linking to the best, most interesting and most important pieces of content in the field. Read more about what we cover. We also list papers and articles by Stephen Downes and his presentations from around the world.

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