The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations is excited to announce the fourth annual Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism.
Valued at $10,000, the Fellowship is intended to help address the lack of informed investigative reporting on Canadian higher education issues. It provides financial support to those wishing to pursue in-depth journalism in this area.
Two widely praised articles have already been published in The Walrus as a result of the Fellowship:
Nicholas Hune-Brown’s The Shadowy Business of International Education explores this growing international student recruitment industry in Canada. Through Hune-Brown’s incisive reporting, the article paints a fascinating, revealing, and concerning picture of an industry rife with exploitation.
“The story of the international student is complex and under-examined. It’s also vitally important. The financial support from the OCUFA Fellowship allowed me to stick with the story, eventually producing the most in-depth, closely reported story of my career.” – Nicholas Hune-Brown, 2019 fellowship recipient
Simon Lewsen and Chloë Ellingson’s Inside the Mental Health Crisis Facing College and University Students examines the mental health challenges facing postsecondary students, how institutional policies and structures exacerbate these challenges, and what institutions can do to improve supports for students in psychological distress.
“The OCUFA Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism gave us the time and resources to [research the mental health crisis on campus exhaustively] and, ultimately, to craft a piece of longform storytelling that is among the best we’ve done, individually or as a team.” – Simon Lewsen and Chloë Ellingson, 2020 fellowship recipients
The Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism is open to full-time, part-time, and freelance journalists (including students) who wish to pursue an investigative research project in the area of Canadian higher education. Applications focusing on any topic within this area are welcomed, including public policy, labour relations, the academic labour market, governance, financing, teaching, research, librarianship and information management, demographics, education quality, free speech and academic freedom, equity and diversity, Indigeneity, and reconciliation.
The deadline for applications is March 21, 2022. The Fellowship is valued at $10,000 and administered by OCUFA, with the first half payable at the start of the project and the second half upon completion. The winner will have to complete and publish and/or broadcast the project within a year of being granted the Fellowship. OCUFA will not exercise any editorial control or judgment over the work produced.
To learn more about the Fellowship and to apply, please visit: https://ocufa.on.ca/awards/journalismfellowship
If you have any questions about the Fellowship, the application process, or require further information, please contact Ben Lewis at communications@ocufa.on.ca.