Despite increased proportions of students attending some form of postsecondary education (PSE), some social groups continue to face significant barriers and encounter difficulties making the transition. Previous research suggests that proximity to postsecondary institutions may have a positive impact on PSE participation rates, even more so for lower-and middle-income families. We know comparatively less, however, about how these processes operate for social groups in varied social and economic contexts. In Canada, many highly ranked, prestigious universities and colleges (with greater arrays of fields) tend to be clustered in large, urban centers, and in the southernmost parts of Canadian provinces, but it is not clear whether these differences impact PSE outcomes. Drawing on cycles 1 to 4 of Statistics Canada's Youth in Transition Survey (YITS2Cohort A), our findings reveal that individuals from the northernmost parts of Canadian provinces do experience difficulties accessing various types of PSE (and in the timing of doing so). Moreover, our results suggest that much of these location effects are attributable to not only economic differences in terms of parental income but also cultural and dispositional differences related to parental education and their aspirations for their children's education.Proximity, Prosperity, and PSE Participation -Zarifa et al.

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The current fiscal environment has driven Canadian universities to become more entrepreneurial, seeking out and competing over new sources of funding. Despite such intensifying competition, little effort has been made to document the promotional tactics that Canadian universities are using to render themselves appealing to external audiences. This study examines the contents of the home pages of English‐speaking universities in Canada. It finds that, though there are some differences in the tactics that primarily undergraduate and research‐intensive universities employ, both generally strive to emulate the same institutional ‘template’. Moreover, the usage of more unorthodox promotional tactics, drawing on labour market rhetoric or discourses of inclusivity, is limited. These findings are theorised in relation to contemporary work within organisational sociology and strategic management.

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