No Place to Learn

Why Universities Aren't Working

By Thomas C Pocklington and Allan Tupper

UBC Press

The Red Cross is studied and criticized. The Royal Family is studied and criticized. Churches and hospitals are studied and criticized. Canadian universities are seldom studied and criticized and are worse off for this neglect. This book seeks to repair this damage by casting a critical eye on how Canadian universities work – or fail to work.

Arguing that too much emphasis is placed on specialized research and too little on teaching, No Place to Learn contends that students seeking higher education in Canada are being short-changed. In clear, non-technical language, the book explains the priorities of Canadian universities and outlines several practical reforms that would greatly improve them. If you’ve never known what deans do, what tenure is, and what professors do when they’re not teaching, No Place to Learn is a must-read: an eye-opening introduction that raises serious questions about the state of higher education in Canada.

Current students, prospective students, and their parents will not want to miss this book, while professors and administrators would be wise to take note of it.

RELATED TOPICS: Education, Educational Policy & Theory, Post-Secondary Education

A thoughtful, skeptical view of Canadian universities. Because the authors are devoted to the mission, they are careful not to scorch the earth; but they deliver the kind of tough criticism that Canadian (and US!) universities need to hear. It should be required reading, especially for its compelling argument that student teaching remains the core of the contract between university and society. Donald Kennedy, President Emeritus of Stanford University, and author of Academic Duty

Raises challenging questions about practices currently plaguing the performance of Canadian colleges. No Place to Learn demolishes what it calls ‘the myth of mutual enrichment,’ that only active researchers make good teachers, taking a critical look at the allegedly hard-nosed, narrow research favoured by promotion and tenure committees. Although they will not agree with every point, Canadians with a stake in postsecondary education will benefit greatly from this book. John Meisel, Sir Edward Peacock Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Queen’s University

Tom Pocklington and Allan Tupper are both Professors in the Department of Political Science, University of Alberta.

1 No Place to Learn

2 The Canadian University: From College to Knowledge Factory

3 Universities in Action: A Day in the Life

4 University Teaching

5 Research and Reflective Inquiry: Competing Principles

6 Teaching and Research at Canadian Universities: The Myth of Mutual Enrichment

7 Ethics in Canadian Universities

8 Universities in Business: Issues and Prospects

9 Pseudo-Problems and Pseudo-Solutions

10 Real Problems, Real Solutions

Notes