Posts from January 2014

On January 20, 2014, the Government of Ontario announced $190 million in new research funding . The funding, which will be distributed through the Ontario Research Fund’s Research Excellence and Research Infrastructure programs, will be invested over six years. OCUFA welcomes this new investment as an important first step in bringing Ontario’s research spending in line with the rest of Canada. In our […]

OCUFA is pleased to announce the release of our 2014 budget recommendations. As with past years, our budget submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs (SCFEA) seeks to improve the quality of higher education in Ontario through investment in operating grants and hiring of full time faculty.  We are sensitive to the […]

Ontario’s professors and academic librarians are welcoming the news that former Prime Minister Paul Martin will help develop a new Ontario Pension Plan. Martin’s appointment was announced yesterday by Premier Kathleen Wynne. “A consensus is building that that an enhanced public pension plan is a desirable solution to the growing retirement income security crisis for […]

TORONTO – Ontario’s professors and academic librarians are welcoming the news that former Prime Minister Paul Martin will help develop a new Ontario Pension Plan. Martin’s appointment was announced yesterday by Premier Kathleen Wynne. “A consensus is building that that an enhanced public pension plan is a desirable solution to the growing retirement income security […]

Recently, several Ontario universities have begun “program prioritization processes,” or PPP.  These initiatives seek to rank academic and non-academic programs to determine an institution’s “strengths.” However, these processes have a variety of problems and, in extreme cases, can lead to program cuts. University of Windsor Provost Leo Groarke has written an article in Academic Matters that criticizes the way in which program prioritization is being done in Ontario . In […]

We Teach Ontario , OCUFA’s campaign highlighting the important connection between teaching and research, has launched a student video contest.  The contest offers former and current Ontario university students the chance to win an iPhone, an iPad mini, or a trip to Toronto to attend the OCUFA “Future U” conference. To enter, students need to make a short video explaining how a […]

The latest international comparative education data was recently released by Statistics Canada. As with previous editions, Canada fares well when it comes to the percentage of 25 to 64 year olds with tertiary education (college and university) credentials – 51 per cent compared to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 33 […]

Following the extension of solvency relief to some universities (those that have already qualified for Stage 2 relief), OCUFA has been active on many fronts of the pension file.  Notable among these are consulting with government on draft regulations for transferring assets between plans; implementation of the Morneau report recommendations; and the pension coalition research project. A draft regulation has already been produced […]

On December 20, 2013, the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities quietly released its Major Capital Expansion Policy Framework . The new policy governs how the government will allocate funds for major new infrastructure projects, including the creation of satellite campuses. The framework establishes four basic criteria for capital projects: Accommodates enrolment growth of more than 1,000 full-time students in the […]

Professors and academic librarians across Ontario are calling for the Government of Ontario to make university teachers a meaningful part of its new “Ontario Online” initiative. The $42 million program was announced today by Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities Brad Duguid. “Ontario’s professors are the ones who design and teach online courses, and yet […]

TORONTO – Professors and academic librarians across Ontario are calling for the Government of Ontario to make university teachers a meaningful part of its new “Ontario Online” initiative. The $42 million program was announced today by Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities Brad Duguid. “Ontario’s professors are the ones who design and teach online courses, […]