From Jan. 10-11, 2013, OCUFA held its annual conference in Toronto. This year’s theme was “Academia in the Age of Austerity”, and the program was designed to explore the impacts the “austerity agenda” has had – and will continue to have – on higher education.
The speakers included faculty members, higher education researchers, students, members of the media, and activists from Ontario, Canada, and around the world. Through a series of panel sessions and keynote addresses, participants sought to answer several key questions: Is austerity inevitable, or are there alternatives? How has this “austerity agenda” actually affected faculty, students, and institutions in Ontario, in Canada, and globally? And, what might universities do now, and in the future, in response to austerity?
To start the conference, OCUFA presented new polling data on public attitudes towards higher education and austerity.
Over 120 faculty members, administrators, students, and policymakers attended the conference. Over the next few weeks, we will be making audio from each session available on our website. In the meantime, here is the complete recording of the panel “Debating Austerity: Is Public Constraint the Only Way Forward?” featuring Jim Stanford, Alex Himmelfarb, and Derek DeCloet, in three parts: