The latest Education Indicators in Canada report from Statistics Canada shows that the national unemployment rate for those with university education continues to be lower than the remainder of the working population. Although unemployment caused by the Great Recession peaked in 2009 for most Canadians, the highest level of unemployment amongst the university-educated was in 2010. Other wrinkles [Read More…]
Data Check
As it goes with student-faculty ratios at Ontario universities, so it goes with class sizes. As the number of students relative to the number of faculty increases, class sizes get bigger. This has serious implications for the quality of higher education in our province – larger classes mean less student interaction with faculty, a key [Read More…]
Since the mid-1990s, Ontario has had the worst student-to-faculty ratio in Canada. While the number of students per full-time faculty member in other provinces hovered around 20-1, the Ontario ratio rose from 22-1 in the fall of 2000 to 27-1 by 2005-06 as the “double cohort” entered the university system. A slight improvement occurred [Read More…]
The 2012 Ontario Budget essentially took a ‘wait and see’ approach on funding for research and development. After abruptly cancelling three rounds of funding under the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) Research Excellence program late last year, there is no immediate prospect of further cuts. But there will be no new funding to keep pace with either inflation or [Read More…]
The average annual increase of 1.9 per cent in post-secondary and training announced in the recently tabled provincial budget may bring a sigh of relief in some corners. At first pass, it does seem better than the 1.5 per cent average recommended by the Drummond Commission . A closer look is far more disturbing. The projected 1.9 per cent increase is based on “all-in” expenditures by the Ministry [Read More…]
Writing in the Toronto Star , Michael Mendelsohn of the Caledon Institute for Social Policy observes that the relative size of Ontario’s deficit is not because of spending. In 2009-10, the Ontario government spent the lowest amount of any province per capita – $9,030, seven per cent less than ninth place British Columbia. He cites the Drummond report and points out that 39 per cent [Read More…]
By almost any measure, provincial public funding for Ontario universities has lagged behind every other province for nearly two decades. Reckoned in terms of inflation-adjusted per student funding, provincial support bottomed out in 2002-03, rose again for a few years, and has been falling again since 2008-09. Operating expenditures follow a similar pattern. Over [Read More…]
Lost in the media glare around Don Drummond’s message of expenditure restraint delivered by was the other side of the equation – government revenues. Drummond’s mandate excluded consideration of tax policy, which is highly problematic by itself. But his revenue forecast left some commentators downright perplexed. USW economist Erin Weir recently drew attention to the Drummond [Read More…]
National level data reported by Statistics Canada reveals that the number of people working at universities and colleges has declined over the past year, offsetting gains in employment in other parts of the public sector. Since 2010, the average number of people employed in the post-secondary education (PSE) sector fell by 14,000. Almost all that decline occurred in [Read More…]
Ontario leads the world in terms of postsecondary attainment. But as the data shows, this has more to do with college attendance than university access. Statistics Canada reports that half of Canadians between the ages of 25 and 64 have a college or university education. In Ontario, 56 per cent have attained a postsecondary credential. The average [Read More…]
The Drummond Report claims that it “protects annual growth in post-secondary funding at a time when many other public services will be rationalized.” True, it does recommend that postsecondary expenditures continue to increase by 1.5 per cent per year. But a quick look at the data reveals the truth: Drummond actually recommending a severe cut [Read More…]
A recent Statistics Canada look at women and education shows that postsecondary attainment amongst Canadian women and men has increased markedly since 1990. The increase in the proportion of people with a postsecondary diploma or certificate was roughly the same for women and men. When it comes to university degrees, however, women’s attainment rates grew much faster than [Read More…]
Recently, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report comparing what students pay for their degrees with the public cost of providing undergraduate education in British Columbia. It found that university graduates, as a group, pay out considerably more in fees and taxes than the total cost of their education. A four-year undergraduate degree costs the [Read More…]
University enrolments continue to increase in Canada. If community colleges that recently were given university status and denominational institutions are included, the total number of students attending universities outside Ontario went up by five per cent between 2010 and 2011 reports the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada . The number of students at older publicly funded universities rose by almost three per [Read More…]
Statistics Canada reports that spending on research and development (R&D) in Canada is expected to be two per cent higher in 2011 than it was the previous year. After two years of cutting back, spending by business is expected to increase by five per cent. However, if inflation rose and the economy grew as anticipated in the [Read More…]