OCUFA

Reality Check: Not enough being done to bridge the gender pay gap

Graeme — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:00:16 +0000

Two recent reports form the Centre for Policy Alternatives address the gender gap in Canada and Ontario. Both find that not enough is being done to close the distance between men and women in the workplace.

Closing the Gender Gap takes a look at a variety of indicators used by the World Economic Forum to assess the gender gap in education, health, the economy, and politics. Author Kate McInturff found it would take more than 200 years to close the overall gap in Canada If progress were to continue at the current pace.

Some of that score is a result of abysmal scores in the political empowerment of women. Even so, Canada does not perform well on the economic participation and opportunity sub-index, despite having excellent scores in educational attainment for women.

Another study, 10 Ways To Close Ontario’s Gender Pay Gap, points to a 28 per cent gender pay gap in Ontario, taking into account the dependence of so many women on part-time work. Mary Cornish complements McInturff’s recommendations by identifying concrete steps to ensure that real progress is made and maintained. In addition to measures to increase awareness and making pay equity a mainstream concern, she discusses practical matters like affordable and accessible child care, implementing and ensuring compliance with pay equity policies, employment and pay equity laws, and, not least, access to collective bargaining.

Public investment in Ontario universities continues to decline

Graeme — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:50:11 +0000

At first glance, the 2013 Ontario Budget doesn’t say much at all about higher education. This silence obscures the austerity logic still working against the province’s universities.

The 2013 Budget continues the slow cuts announced in 2012. Through so-called “policy levers”, some $121 million is being cut from university budgets in 2012-13 and 2013-14. The government will also begin clawing back operating funds according to international enrolment, essentially imposing a “head tax” on all new international students. Taken together, these measures will continue the ongoing decline in per-student funding.

Overall funding for universities, correcting for inflation, is set to decline by 2.5 per cent over the next four years. If current enrolment trends continue, per-student funding from the government will actually decline by seven per cent over the same period.

The new tuition framework – where average increases cannot exceed 3 per cent – will also harm university revenue. OCUFA believes strongly that Ontario students pay too much in tuition fees, and that the cost of higher education must be controlled. However, we have long argued that any freeze or reduced fee cap should be accompanied by compensatory government investment to replace lost tuition revenue. No such funding has been made available.

Overall, this means that universities in Ontario will be forced to grapple with steadily declining resources, and corresponding threats to educational quality and affordability. With all the social and economic benefits generated by our institutions, the government’s current course is harmful to students, to families, and the province.

Data Check: Ontario’s funding for universities continues to slide

Graeme — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:09:52 +0000

If a government’s commitment to “innovation” can be measured by its support to the institutions that carry out innovative research and educate the people who put their own ingenuity to work, Ontario’s government support is on a downward slide. University funding as a percentage of GDP still lags well behind the rest of Canada, despite the government’s supposed interest in innovation.

2010-11 is the latest period in which we can compare Ontario with other provinces. That year Ontario government operating support to universities –as a proportion of provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – was about 15 per cent below the average in the rest of Canada.

Surprisingly, 2010-11 was still nearly a peak year for Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities operating allocations to universities as a percentage of provincial GDP. The percentage was magnified in part because the economy had shrunk during the course of the Great Recession.

By 2015-16, if current funding plans for universities are not changed and Ontario Budget 2013 forecasts for economic growth are borne out, the level of MTCU operating support to universities will have dropped to what it was in 2005-06 when Reaching Higher was first launched. In ten years, the government will have erased the positive effects of Reaching Higher.

Canadian Association of University Business Officers, Financial Information of Universities and Colleges
Ontario, 2013 Ontario Budget
Statistics Canada, Provincial and territorial economic accounts

Professors and academic librarians to Premier: It’s time to invest in universities

Graeme — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:12:25 +0000

Read OCUFA’s full budget analysis.

Ontario’s 17,000 professors and academic librarians are calling on Premier Wynne to invest in the province’s universities after today’s budget missed an opportunity to introduce new funding for higher education institutions. The 2013 Budget continues to impose small cuts on the university sector, leading to an overall decline in per-student funding.

“Ontario already has the worst level of per-student funding in Canada, and this budget continues this trend,” says Constance Adamson, President of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). “We’re pleased to see that youth and youth employment are priorities for Premier Wynne. Investing in universities is a natural way to ensure that young Ontarians will find success in the job market and in their communities.”

Increasing the level of per-student funding in Ontario would bring many benefits to young people in the province. There would be more professors, improving student engagement and mentorship. Aging labs, libraries, and classrooms would be upgraded, contributing to an enhanced learning environment. Students would have greater access to the latest technology. Increased per-student funding would also help control rising tuition fees, keeping university affordable for Ontario families.

“We’re worried that the narrow focus on reducing the provincial deficit is crowding out other priorities equally important to Ontarians. Investment in universities helps reduce the deficit by stimulating economic growth and building a strong society,” said Adamson.

Austerity policies that seek to reduce the deficit through cuts to valuable public services like education are now widely seen as harmful to economic growth. The International Monetary Fund is now cautioning governments against aggressive deficit reduction.

“Austerity is based on sketchy research, and has failed to generate economic growth around the world,” said Adamson. “We should be investing in the things that we know lead to economic growth and social vitality, like our universities.”

Data Check: University degrees continue to be in demand

Graeme — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:30:37 +0000

It is now well know that 70 per cent of new jobs would require some form of post-secondary education. But the origin of this figure is not so clear, and despite its prevalence, no one is ever quite sure where it came from. However, the latest version of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada’s (HRSDC) occupational projections finally confirms that estimate.

According to HRSDC, 70 per cent of Canadian new job openings between 2011 and 2020 will be for those with post-secondary education or in management. If replacement demand – or the number of existing jobs that become vacant – is included, two-thirds of job openings will require higher education, compared with 62 per cent in 2010. Clearly, a university degree, college diploma, or apprenticeship will be increasingly necessary for success in the labour market.

If replacement demand is a benchmark of educational requirements for jobs that currently exist, the percentage of positions requiring a university education will rise from 19 to 26 per cent. If management positions are added, the demand will rise from 31 to 35 per cent. Compare that with Ontario’s university participation rate: 32 per cent for full-time university students (as a proportion of 18-24 year-olds), or 28 per cent if only full-time undergraduates are counted.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Imbalances Between Labour Demand and Supply – 2011-2020, Canadian Occupational Projection System 2011 Projections
Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, USER Enrolment Report
Statistics Canada, Canada’s population estimates: Age and sex, July 1, 2012

Worldviews Conference pledges to “commit sociology”

Graeme — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:07:33 +0000

A group of academics from around the world intend to commit Sociology at every panel, keynote and even during coffee breaks at Worldviews 2013, a conference co-organized by OCUFA.

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“Keep Calm and Commit Sociology” reads the promotional buttons produced by a group of academics who took Stephen Harper to task today over recent comments about the sources of terrorism while also promoting their annual conference. The buttons are a riff on the 1939 poster designed by the British government to raise the morale of the public in the aftermath of widely predicted mass air attacks.

On June 19th – 21st, academics from around the world will be descending upon Toronto to discuss issues of higher education, technology and the media during Worldviews 2013: Global Trends on Higher Education and Media.

“Our conference examines new global trends in media and higher education,” said Joel Westheimer, University Research Chair in the Sociology of Education at the University of Ottawa. “Mr. Harper’s recent comments on the sources of terrorism speaks to a kind of anti-intellectualism that has come to characterize his government. The very purpose of our conference is to discuss a number of sociological issues in higher education that are relevant to all Canadians.”

Worldviews 2013 will highlight the importance of committing sociology by examining the changing nature of higher education, media coverage and looking at the way technology is changing the two sides of the equation.

“There is a war on information in our country,” said Westheimer. “On the media, on academics, on libraries, on archives, on the census – the list keeps going. We need to understand the ‘why’ of things, and cutting away our ability to make informed decisions will invariably derail our country.”

Worldviews 2013 will be taking place at the University of Toronto, June 19 to June 21. Buttons are available from the Worldviews website for $5 a piece and proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Sociological Association’s student research award.

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Grad student blows a hole in the austerity agenda

Graeme — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:30:56 +0000

Last week, Thomas Herndon, a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, discovered a huge flaw in a highly influential paper by the economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. The article claimed to demonstrate that countries with high debt-to-GDP ratios experience slower economic growth, and was widely cited in support of austerity policies by politicians around the globe.

As Herndon discovered, Reinhart and Rogoff had made a basic error in their Excel database, which undercut their conclusion about high debt and low growth. This has emboldened critics of the paper, including Paul Krugman, who have long claimed that the paper failed to convincingly demonstrate causality and looks long on ideology and short on social science.

The Reinhart/Rogoff paper was a key component of the argument advanced by so-called “austerians”—those who advocate deep public cuts in response to the recession caused by the 2008 financial crisis. The case for public austerity now seems very much in doubt; not only is the underlying rationale flawed, but austerity – from Canada to the UK and beyond – has failed to generate significant economic growth. The International Monetary Fund is now cautioning countries away from strict austerity policies.

With a provincial budget just around the corner, it is worth reflecting on the austerity agenda at work in Ontario. If austerity is based on shaky social science, and has failed to generate meaningful real-world growth, why should Ontario continue to embrace its policies? What we need now is public investment in the things we know promote growth, such as higher education. Austerity has failed; let’s try a more hopeful and productive vision.

2013 Ontario Budget to be released on May 2nd

Graeme — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:51:46 +0000

The 2013 Ontario Budget will be released on May 2^nd, 2013 by Minister of Finance Charles Sousa. It is expected that the budget will continue the Liberal government’s focus on reducing the provincial deficit, although it will likely also contain provisions put forward by the NDP (such as reduced auto insurance premiums). Premier Kathleen Wynne needs support from one of the opposition parties to pass the budget and forestall a spring election, and is unlikely to get it from the Tories.

At present, there has not been any clear indication what the budget will contain for Ontario’s universities. The government will likely re-announce their new tuition framework, but there will likely be no new spending. Indeed, per-student funding will likely continue to decline. This lack of investment will continue to threaten the quality of higher education in Ontario, endangering student success and economic growth.

OCUFA will be providing an analysis of the budget, both on this website and in OCUFA Report.

Data Check: Canadian business lags behind in R&D investment

Graeme — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:30:25 +0000

The Conference Board of Canada recently reported on this country’s innovation record, with Canada ranking thirteenth of the sixteen countries considered. While Canada got a grade of “B” for public spending on research and development (R&D), Canadian business got a “D” for its efforts and ranked second from last.

The report observes that Canadian business expenditures on (R&D) as a proportion of gross domestic product fell from 1.29 per cent in 2001 to 0.89 per cent in 2011. The decline over this period appears more dramatic, as 2001 was the peak year of business investment relative to GDP. It was more “normal” for the rate of expenditure in the first half of the decade to be around 1.15 per cent, until 2006.

Since then, the rate of business investment in research and development has fallen by over 20 per cent. That decline has occurred despite an increase in the government support to business R&D in the form of direct funds and tax breaks. After taking into account direct funding and federal tax expenditures through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Investment Tax Credit, the decline in “net” business expenditures on R&D fell by almost 30 per cent between 2006 and 2011.

So who carries the R&D load in Canada? Publicly funded universities produce the majority of new knowledge and innovation in the country. Without robust university research output funded through public investment, Canadian innovation will stall.

Sources: Conference Board of Canada, How Canada Performs
Finance Canada, Government of Canada Tax Expenditures (2011 and prior)
Statistics Canada, Spending on research and development, 2012

COU releases more details on Ontario Universities Online consortium

Graeme — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:18:17 +0000

Last week, we reported that the Council of Ontario Universities was developing a new consortium to develop online learning in Ontario. On April 18^th, the COU made additional details available on the online learning initiative. Ontario Universities Online (OUO) will seek to “expand online learning for students in the province and beyond” and “meet the growing demand for courses and programs delivered outside the traditional classroom setting or courses that blend both traditional and electronic delivery.” This is the first indication that the OUO will focus on traditional online courses, as well as so-called hybrid or blended courses where in-class instruction is supplemented by online resources.

Seven “core institutions” have committed resources to the project, and are providing “core leadership”, according to the COU press release. These institutions include the University of Waterloo, Brock University, University of Guelph, McMaster University, Ryerson University, Wilfrid Laurier University and York University.

OCUFA is monitoring the development of the OUO closely. It is our strong belief that all online learning initiatives should be focused on promoting student success, not cutting costs. It is also vital that online learning in Ontario protect academic freedom, respect the intellectual property rights of faculty, and preserve local autonomy in academic planning.