OCUFA is pleased to announce that the latest issue of Academic Matters , OCUFA’s flagship journal of higher education, is now available online. Titled “The War on Knowledge,” the magazine examines attempts to muzzle scientists and academic librarians in Ontario, cuts to important data sources, and how over-exuberance for certain technological tools threatens the public university. Featured articles [Read More…]
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The voice of Ontario’s university professors and academic librarians
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Committed to enhancing the quality of university education in Ontario
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Advancing the professional and economic interests of faculty and academic librarians at Ontario universities
As we reported in last week’s OCUFA Report , Ontario has announced plans to cut the amount of per-student funding provided to the province’s teacher education programs. This week, OCUFA wrote a letter to Minister Liz Sandals (Education) and Brad Duguid (Training, Colleges, and Universities) expressing our concerns. The full text of the letter follows: Dear Ministers Duguid and Sandals, [Read More…]
Critics of the productivity of Ontario’s universities need to check their facts. Ontario universities are doing much better than their American peers when it comes to graduation rates. Over the last decade, the overall graduation rate amongst undergraduates in Ontario has been steadily improving. The latest data show it at 81 per cent. Once first professional [Read More…]
OCUFA is pleased to announce this year’s winner of the Mandelabum Fellowship: Sara Pavan, a doctoral candidate in political studies at Queen’s University. Sara is an outstanding student, receiving high marks throughout her coursework and a “Distinction” for her comprehensive exams, a rare honour. In addition to her first-class academics, the fellowship jury was particularly struck [Read More…]
On Wednesday, June 5, 2013, the Government of Ontario announced significant changes to teacher education in Ontario . Unfortunately, they chose to accompany their curriculum changes with a 33 per cent cut to per-student funding for teacher colleges. Some of the structural changes – doubling the length of teacher education from one year to two years – were expected, and will help bring [Read More…]
On May 27, 2013, OCUFA President Constance Adamson wrote a letter to Rector Chantal Beauvais of Saint Paul University, regarding troubling labour developments at the university. Here is the full text of the letter. Dear Rector Beauvais; I am writing this letter to urge the administration of Saint Paul University to reverse its threat to [Read More…]
It’s often assumed that Ontario’s tuition fees are a bargain compared to those in the United States. But tuition fees are rising faster in Ontario, and the percentage of university revenue made up of student fees is higher in the province than in American public institutions. Data from the United States indicate that inflation-adjusted tuition and [Read More…]
On May 23, 2013, the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) and the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities (MTCU) hosted a symposium on education in Ontario featuring several Ontario Research Chairs. Glen Jones, a professor at the University of Toronto and Ontario Research Chair in Postsecondary Education Policy and Measurement, presented his thoughts on “the [Read More…]
When a pundit or politician attacks unions, they’re really attacking equality for everyone, and for women in particular. Unions and the public sector – and public sector unions especially – are no strangers to criticism. In the wake of the Great Recession, perhaps it should be no surprise that attacks are more vociferous than when times [Read More…]
Collective bargaining continues at Ontario’s universities, with seven faculty associations currently at the table. Two of these associations (Brescia and UOIT Teaching Stream faculty) are negotiating their first contract. Two more associations are preparing to begin bargaining soon. At UOIT, appropriate permanency/continuing employment provisions for teaching stream faculty remains an issue. At Ottawa, the faculty association [Read More…]