Canadian Higher Education System: Evaluation of the HEQCO Agency for the development of Education in the province of Ontario

Abstract

Canada is a country with a recognized Education system, and the province of Ontario has the largest number of students enrolled in Higher Education. Due to its management complexity, the Government of Ontario created the agency Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO). Because it is an unusual agency in most countries, this research aims to better understand HEQCO under the vision of the main stakeholders of the system. In order to reach the results, exploratory and qualitative research was developed, from the accomplishment of interviews with managers of the Canadian government and application of questionnaire for six professors specialists in Canadian Higher Education and two student leaderships. The results showed that HEQCO has a prominent role but needs greater autonomy. This study also realized that in highly centralized systems, having an agency acting on specific issues can be an efficient way to identify the greatest challenges and be more assertive in the actions and policies outlined for each locality, assisting in its development.