Meso-Foundations of Experiential Education in Ontario Universities - A Content Analysis of the Province’s Strategic Mandate Agreements

Oct 15, 2026

Experiential education, delivering applied learning opportunities within and outside the classroom, involves significant organizational complexity. This article analyzes Ontario’s Strategic Mandate Agreements through qualitative content analysis to track changes over time in how experiential learning is conceived and communicated, and to examine how universities respond to government pressure. Findings show universities building institutional infrastructure and initiatives to expand experiential learning, framed around graduate skill readiness, though external messaging may not match internal organizational processes.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Experiential education in higher education policy

Strategic Mandate Agreements and institutional response

Meso-Foundations of Experiential Education in Ontario Universities: A Content Analysis of the Province’s Strategic Mandate Agreements Abstract Experiential education, the process of providing students with applied learning opportunities within and outside the classroom, is rife with organizational complexity. This article examines Ontario’s Strategic Mandate Agreements using qualitative content analysis to see how conceptions and communications of experiential learning have changed overtime, and how universities have responded to government pressure to foster experiential learning. Drawing on frame analysis, findings reveal that universities have developed a considerable amount of institutional infrastructure and initiatives to support the expansion of experiential learning, and these efforts have been framed in relation to current discourse about graduate skill readiness. However, these outward signalling responses are not necessarily aligned with internal organizational processes (i.e., expansion of co-curricular learning) . These mandate agreements represent official accounts of institutional priorities, which leave the door open for future research to examine micro-foundations of experiential learning through the perspectives of the faculty and staff inhabiting these institutions. Keywords: experiential education, organizations, higher education, frame theory, strategic mandate agreements Résumé L’éducation expérientielle, soit le concept d’offrir aux étudiants des possibilités d’apprentissage appliqué à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur des salles de cours, vient avec une grande complexité organisationnelle. Cet article examine les ententes de mandat stratégiques del’Ontario à l’aide d’une analyse qualitative du contenu afin d’observer comment les conceptions et les communications de l’apprentissage expérientiel ont évolué au fil du temps, et comment les universités ont répondu aux pressions du gouvernement pour favoriserl’apprentissage expérientiel. En s’appuyant sur l’analyse des cadres, les résultats révèlent que les universités ont mis en place un nombre considérable d’infrastructures et d’initiatives institutionnelles pour soutenir l’expansion de l’apprentissage par l’expérience, et que ces efforts sont encadrés par le discours actuel sur les aptitudes à acquérir des diplômés. Toutefois, ces signaux extérieurs nesont pas nécessairement alignés avec les processus organisationnels internes (c.-à-d. l’expansion de l’apprentissage en parallèle) . Ces ententes de mandat représentent les comptes-rendus officiels des priorités institutionnelles, laissant la porte ouverte à de futures recherches visant à examiner les microfondements de l’apprentissage par l’expérience selon les perspectives du corps professoral et du personnel des établissements concernés. Mots-clés: apprentissage expérientiel, organisations, enseignementsupérieur, théorie des cadres, ententes demandat stratégiques Introduction Experiential education is a concept that has become diffuse in academic institutional language. In contemporary applications, the experience component of experiential education has been increasingly applied to particular forms of learning, and efforts have been made to distinguish between curricular and work-integrated learning (Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada, 2021; Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Develop- Canadian Journal of Higher Education | Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur 54:1 (2024) ment, 2016). The need for experiential learning in university education is often made in reference to the skill-readiness of undergraduate students (see Munro et al., 2014), grounded ina concern that the Canadian labour market is experiencing a skills shortage or gap resulting (at least in part) from universities not adequately preparing their students for the world of work (Busteed, 2019; Gabler & Gormley, 2022; Gismondi, 2021; Mantione, 2018) . Experiential education is touted as enha

FAQs

What is the main focus of the article?

The article examines Ontario’s Strategic Mandate Agreements to analyze how conceptions and communications of experiential learning have changed over time and how universities have responded to government pressure.

How does the article analyze the Strategic Mandate Agreements?

It uses qualitative content analysis, drawing on frame analysis to interpret how experiential learning is framed in institutional communications and initiatives.

What do the findings suggest about universities’ responses?

Universities have developed substantial infrastructure and initiatives to expand experiential learning, framed in relation to graduate skill readiness, but these outward signals may not align with internal organizational processes such as co-curricular learning expansion.

Oct 15, 2026

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