By Yihang Xu

The Center for Learning Strategy Support (CLSS) helps students develop strategies and practices to enhance their learning and study skills. As one of the major units within the Student Life Department at the University of Toronto (UofT), CLSS didn’t always exist in its current form. According to my informant, Eric (a pseudonym), the functions it fulfills today were traditionally handled by faculty members, such as professors, who guided students through academic challenges, offered emotional support, and taught essential learning skills. Over time, these responsibilities were shifted to student life and student affairs departments, allowing faculty to focus on teaching and research.

The roots of CLSS trace back to the establishment of the “Counselling and Learning Skills Service” (CALSS) in 1978. CALSS delivered Study Skills Programs through lectures and one-on-one consultations, addressing academic skills and related mental health concerns like stress and anxiety (Graham 1987, 4). In 2009, the service was rebranded as “Academic Success,” reflecting a significant shift as its counselling functions were integrated into the university’s Health and Wellness Center. This marked a broader trend toward specialization in student services at UofT, fragmenting holistic support into distinct units.

The service was most recently renamed CLSS in May 2024. As its current director, John Hannah, explains, the new name “…captures with much greater clarity the unique thing we offer students in service of their learning,” addressing the ambiguity of its previous title (Ryeland-Etienne 2024). While the name emphasizes clarity, it also reflects institutional priorities under neoliberal governance.

The history of CLSS illustrates the fragmentation and marketization of student services in higher education. Tania Li’s concept of “rendering technical” provides a useful lens to understand this trend, where universities reframe complex challenges as discrete problems solvable through technical solutions and manageable tasks for specific departments (Li 2007, 7–10). Originally, CALSS offered integrated academic and emotional support, reflecting a holistic approach. Its division into separate units for mental health and learning strategies signals a neoliberal shift toward specialization and efficiency (Li 2019, 224–225).

This evolution highlights tensions between individualization and institutional goals. Fragmenting services allows universities to appear responsive but reinforces a neoliberal framework prioritizing individual responsibility over systemic change (Li 2007, 227). Students must navigate fragmented services while structural challenges, such as increasing tuition costs and limited accessibility for marginalized students, remain under-addressed. By reframing academic challenges as technical problems, institutions like UofT manage student populations effectively while perpetuating systemic inequalities (Li 2019, 224–225).

As universities adopt fragmented and specialized services, the renaming of CLSS, from its holistic origins to its specialized form, traces the historical evolution of neoliberalism at UofT. While such changes may appear effective, it remains critical to question whether they genuinely help students better address their challenges or reinforce systemic inequities embedded in higher education.

Bibliography

Graham, David. 1987. “THE STUDY SKILLS PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO.” In Helping Students Learn, Edited by Fiona Goodchild, David Palmer, and Vaughn Thorsteinson. University of Western Ontario.

Li, Tania Murray. 2007. The Will to Improve Governmentality, Development, and the Practice of Politics. North Carolina: Duke University Press.

Li, Tania Murray. 2023. “Foucault Foments Fieldwork at the University.” In Philosophy on Fieldwork, 1st ed., 214–30. United Kingdom: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003086253-12.

Ryeland-Etienne, Sarah. 2024. “Introducing the Centre for Learning Strategy Support.” Student Life. Posted on May 1, 2024. https://studentlife.utoronto.ca/news/introducing-the-centre-for-learning-strategy-support/.