B.C. Post-Secondary System Must Accelerate Reform Amid AI Disruption
The Avison report on British Columbia's post-secondary sector has landed on the government's desk, presenting a stark assessment of an education system struggling to keep pace with rapid technological change. Across colleges and universities, dedicated professionals are experiencing burnout, facing layoffs, and witnessing transformations that outstrip institutional capacity to adapt.
Structural Crisis Beyond Funding
I have observed colleagues throughout the post-secondary sector being laid off over the past year. Some accepted early retirement packages, while others simply departed, exhausted by unsustainable working conditions. Those who remain are shouldering increased workloads with diminished resources, operating within rigid structures burdened by bureaucratic red tape and lacking genuine authority to implement meaningful changes.
These educators possess innovative ideas, including new courses designed to address immediate employer needs. However, the approval process for such programs extends so long that by the time they receive clearance, the opportunity has often evaporated. This represents not merely a funding challenge but a fundamental structural problem requiring systemic solutions.
Warnings Become Reality
When I previously wrote about Canada's post-secondary system approaching a breaking point, I intended it as a cautionary alert. That warning has since transformed into an accurate description of current realities. Former deputy minister Don Avison conducted extensive consultations across the sector for his comprehensive report examining governance, program delivery, and long-term financial sustainability.
His findings surprised few working within the system. The B.C. Federation of Students documented more than eighty programs paused, suspended, or cancelled entirely. Revenue losses from declining international student tuition approach three hundred million dollars annually, while layoff notifications have circulated repeatedly at institutions throughout the province.
Following his final sector meeting, Avison emphasized that special purpose teaching universities, colleges, and polytechnics have expanded far beyond their original mandates, rendering the status quo unsustainable. Most sector insiders would acknowledge they recognized this reality at least five years earlier.
Matt Milovick, Thompson Rivers University's vice-president of finance, articulated the situation plainly in March: "There's no help coming. No one's giving us a bucket of money. We knew from the beginning this was going to be our problem to solve."
AI Acceleration Demands Urgent Response
This moment differs fundamentally from previous post-secondary funding crises because external technological advancement refuses to pause while institutions resolve governance issues. Artificial intelligence now handles legal research, financial analysis, medical diagnostics, software engineering, and creative work simultaneously across every economic sector.
Previous technological shifts required decades to permeate labor markets. This transformation operates at unprecedented velocity. Over one hundred thousand individuals lost AI-driven jobs during 2025 alone. During early 2026, another forty-five thousand technology positions disappeared globally. Amazon eliminated thirty thousand roles, while Chegg, the education technology company, laid off nearly half its workforce after students abandoned human tutoring services for direct AI alternatives.
Consider the profound implications: an education company substantially hollowed out by the same disruptive forces that academic institutions have been slow to address.
Pathway Forward Requires Structural Innovation
The Harvard Business Review recently proposed that companies surviving the next decade will not necessarily possess the most sophisticated algorithms but will demonstrate courage to abandon traditional decision-making processes. This logic applies equally to universities and colleges.
Post-secondary institutions function as consensus machines, routing significant decisions through multiple procedural layers that made sense when industrial changes occurred gradually. Industries no longer evolve slowly. The irony proves almost overwhelming: a sector dedicated to preparing people for the future cannot adequately train its own staff on technologies that future demands.
We urgently require a tiered system approach: comprehensive review processes for degree programs remain necessary, but must be complemented by expedited pathways for employer-partnered micro-credentials and short-cycle skills training. Waiting for traditional systems to adapt will not suffice when artificial intelligence reshapes labor markets at accelerating speeds. British Columbia's post-secondary sector must act with urgency matching the pace of technological disruption.
