Posts from June 2013

The latest release of Financial Information of Universities and Colleges offers little reason for optimism that the Ontario’s university funding gap will be closed any time soon. A brief respite courtesy of the Ontario government’s Reaching Higher plan notwithstanding, per-student provincial operating funding for Ontario’s universities has lagged the average in the rest of Canada […]

On June 19-21, 2013, OCUFA was please to co-host Worldviews 2013: Global Trends in Media and Higher Education . Over three days, 250 speakers and delegates came together to discuss the relationship between media and higher education, a critical issue for those who study and work in higher education institutions as well as those who make their living covering university and college issues. Participants included […]

Talking about tuition fees out of context makes little sense, according to a report on Learning and Earning by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Hugh Mackenzie writes that the role of the income tax system must be taken into account in any discussion of tuition fee policy. In most provinces, government funding is the largest single […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

TORONTO – The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) is pleased to announce the appointment of its 30th president – Kate Lawson, an Associate Professor of English in the Department of English at the University of Waterloo. Lawson officially began her two-year term on July 1, 2013. “OCUFA is a powerful advocate for high quality […]