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Canada’s immigration goals are multifaceted and ambitious, reflecting both a desire to attract those who can contribute economically and culturally and offer protection to the displaced and the persecuted. Alongside these goals is a pledge that newcomers will receive the services and supports they need to fully integrate into Canada’s cultural and economic landscape. This chapter argues that post-secondary institutions, working in partnership with community organizations and primary/secondary schools, are well positioned to facilitate economic and cultural integration, particularly for otherwise vulnerable refugee groups. However, the authors’ previous research illustrates the many barriers refugee youth face in accessing Canadian post-secondary education. The authors hypothesize that efforts to increase post-secondary access – and, thereby, facilitate the accomplishment of immigration goals – will be most effective when specific age groups within the refugee demographic are targeted; in particular, younger children who have spent more time in the Canadian education system. This approach requires a shift in settlement practice from that of meeting only initial, urgent settlement needs, to one that enables the development of economic and cultural capacity. The authors envision a program that, on the one hand, helps refugees to value and gain the broad benefits of post-secondary education, while, on the other hand, directs post-secondary institutions to offer programs and pathways that are more inclusive to the unique challenges faced by this vulnerable demographic.

Young men and women dominate different niches of science education in Australia, but how this divide varies between university and post-secondary vocational education and training (VET) is not well understood. Therefore, I compare courses in both sectors to assess if the male–female gap at later stages of education mirrors adolescent career plans and subject choices made in secondary school. Multinomial logistic regressions estimated on data from the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth (Y06) illustrate the extent to which the gender divides in secondary and post-secondary education correspond with one another. Y06 started with the 2006 Australian Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Each year until 2013, a nationally representative sample of youth, who were nearly 16 years old in 2006, reported their schooling and work experiences. I find that Australian women rarely specialise in physics, engineering and technology (PET); in contrast, they dominate the life sciences. While post-secondary science is segregated by gender everywhere, the disparity within VET is much deeper due to a large share of PET enrolments. VET students, who come from modest socio-economic backgrounds and have less academic success at school, learn in more segregated environments than their university peers. This analysis suggests that gender divides will be particularly hard to close within post-secondary VET, even if schools succeed in eradicating gender differentials in students’ career aspirations, science performance, self-concept and choices of science subjects.

The transition from school to work or to post-secondary training is a critical period for all students (Gilmore, Bose, & Hart, 2001; Zaft, Hart, & Zimbrich, 2004). Thus, a challenge for educators is to develop educational programs and services that embrace the characteristics that is prevalent in highly successful adults with and without disabilities. For years, adolescents and adults with development disabilities did not receive much attention from general or special educators. Fortunately, special educators now are reorganizing the complex needs of these older individuals and are making progress in designing interventions to meet their diverse needs. However, they alone cannot ensure the success of these students in secondary and post-secondary situations (see Hart, Mele-McCarthy, Pasternack, Zimbrich, & Parker, 2004). Legislators and policymakers must consider the special needs of this population in reforming secondary education; and general and special educators must share the responsibility of preparing them for graduation and post-secondary planning (see Bailey, Hughes, & Karp, 2004). In addition, community services must join forces with educators and employers to provide individuals with developmental disabilities with a continuum of services throughout their life span. Many students with developmental disabilities find themselves unprepared at college entry in a number of areas including inadequate knowledge of subject content, underachieving in academic skills, poor organizational skills (e.g., time management and study skills), poor test taking skills, lack of assertiveness, and low self-esteem (Dalke & Schmitt, 1987; Mull, Sitlington, & Alper, 2001; Stodden & Whelley, 2004).

The purpose of this foresight editorial is to explore the changing nature of the traditional post‐secondary institution under increased pressure at the intersection of expanding demand for access and the maturation of the internet to allow international delivery to meet this demand.

This is an opinion piece.

The cost of basic knowledge assets, with the rise of “big data” and the internet, are asymptotically approaching zero, questioning why the increasing demand for access cannot be met at lower cost at the gates of the “Ivory Tower”. This is and will continue to have increased impact on how basic baccalaureate knowledge is delivered and certified

The “bar” for job entrance has been raised beyond the secondary school diploma. At the same time, the removal of bottlenecks for post‐secondary certification, internationally, will change the nature of employment of graduates and also the entire infrastructure of the bachelor‐level institutional programs.

This is a contrarian foresight essay designed to provoke discussion at the systems level of education in general and post‐secondary programs in particular.

Post‐secondary institutions are undergoing change. This review aims to look at how the changes are being addressed in Europe and the USA.

Two books are reviewed. One looks at the change through the efforts of the Spellings Commission in the USA while the other, a study of the European Bologna Process, holds the hope that there might be lessons for the USA's traditional colleges and universities.

Both of the authors are concerned with the current and future state of post‐secondary education in the USA. Gaston defines the rise and the current state of the Bologna Process of harmonization of universities across the EU's borders. He also indicates that the USA's global hegemonic reputation may not hold in the future. Zemsky's study focuses on the Spellings Commission study and sees post‐secondary education as the center point of knowledge, needing some change, but not so off course that it needs to follow the path of homogenization which the USA sees as being taken in Europe. The paper also reveals how the US public institutions, the public itself and the government need to resolve the need for centers of academic and research excellence while addressing the social needs of an increasingly diverse population in a time of limited fiscal resources.

The rising technological demands of a flattening world raise the educational need of the workforce taking it from K‐12 to K‐14+ and removing the bright line that has separated the tertiary institutions from the secondary schools. Additionally, global mobility changes the marketplace, particularly at the undergraduate levels and the role of the academics who labor in the Ivory Tower.

The paper reveals information on the influence of the Bologna Process and the Spellings Commission in educational reform.

How do institutional settings and their embedded policy principles affect gender-typed enrolment in educational programmes? Based on gender-sensitive theories on career choice, we hypothesised that gender segregation in education is higher with a wider range of offers of vocational programmes. By analysing youth survey and panel data, we tested this assumption for Germany, Norway and Canada, three countries whose educational systems represent a different mix of academic, vocational and universalistic education principles. We found that vocational programmes are considerably more gender-segregated than are academic (e.g. university) programmes. Men, more so than women, can avoid gender-typed programmes by passing on to a university education. This in turn means that as long as their secondary school achievement does not allow for a higher education career, they have a higher likelihood of being allocated to male-typed programmes in the vocational education and training (VET) system. In addition, social background and the age at which students have to choose educational offers impact on the transition to gendered educational programmes. Overall, gender segregation in education is highest in Germany and the lowest in Canada. We interpret the differences between these countries with respect to the constellations of educational principles and policies in the respective countries.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the less than purposeful shift in post‐secondary education models and the implications for the institution, faculty and students.

Analysis of the impact of technology for post‐secondary education futures.

Advances in virtual connectivity will deconstruct the traditional idea of a university while also challenging the economic models used by students in determining their future.

The increasing research and analysis of the ubiquity of knowledge once held within the university indicates that the disruption of post‐secondary education will force all parties to re‐assess the future of the post‐secondary institutions in a global knowledge society.

The purpose of this editorial is to describe a current and recurring problem in post‐secondary education and a path out of it.

This is a viewpoint paper.

Education has to change direction. Badging and the world of multiplayer games provides one path to change the institutions and how to prepare, primarily, undergraduates as education moves from pre‐K‐12 to pre‐K‐16 and towards lifelong learning

The paper provides a viewpoint into one way in which post‐secondary education can move forwards.