Why Universities Are Failing

Canadian universities are in crisis — and not just because the government cut international student visas. Fourteen Ontario universities are running combined deficits of over $400 million. The University of Waterloo is staring down a $75 million shortfall. Laurentian already went bankrupt. And through all of it, the response from most institutions has been to ask the government for more money rather than examine how they got here.

In this episode of BusinessIsGood, Chris Cooper makes the case that universities are businesses — whether they want to admit it or not — and they're failing at the basics.

Chris breaks down four specific failures holding universities back. First, fiscal management: institutions that built their entire revenue model around a single funding source they couldn't control, then acted surprised when it disappeared. Second, curriculum relevance: graduates entering the workforce without knowing how to use AI, navigate the gig economy, or market themselves — because their professors were hired under an industrial model that no longer exists. Third, the social experience myth: the "campus life" pitch that peaked in 1985 and mostly vanished, leaving students who were put into groups but never actually taught how to work in them. Fourth, and most critically, the failure to teach people how to think — skipping logic, self-leadership, public speaking, and entrepreneurship in favour of increasingly abstract academic programming.

The question universities need to answer honestly: what are they actually selling? And if it's critical thinking, real-world preparation, or how to manage oneself — most universities should put themselves through their own program first.

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Website - https://businessisgood.com/