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Time is running out to register for the “Feminist Transformative Leadership in the Academy” workshop, hosted by OCUFA’s Status of Women Committee (SWC). The workshop will be held on May 23 at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto.

The workshop will feature a panel of female academic leaders who will facilitate break-out tables of participants over lunch for in-depth discussions on the challenges to and tools needed for successful transformation in the academy.

Confirmed panelists include Sheila Embleton, Karleen Pendleton Jimenez, David DeVidi and Peggy Smith. After the panel, participants will have a working lunch to brainstorm on strategies for transforming the academy, share examples of what’s working well in our academic lives and what else we need. Lunch tables will be hosted by either a panelist or Status of Women committee

The $75 workshop registration fee includes lunch and workshop materials. Participants are encouraged to seek travel and other financial support from their local faculty association as soon as possible.

Click here to register.

While now consigned to the dustbin of history, the 2014 Ontario Budget was a puzzling document. Although it explicitly sought to “strengthen our competitive advantage, create jobs, and provide vital public services” and “foster a fair society,” it nevertheless overlooked the worrying funding trend at the province’s universities.

“Ontario’s universities have the capacity to achieve all of the government’s social and economic goals,” said Kate Lawson, President of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). “What’s more, they also help create healthier, more engaged, and more equal society. Investing in universities builds a more prosperous and fair Ontario, so it is strange that the Liberal government didn’t make higher education a stronger priority.”

Ontario currently has the lowest level of per-student funding and the highest tuition fees in Canada. Increased public investment would allow universities to preserve the quality of education while ensuring they remain affordable for students and their families.

According to the 2014 budget, operating funding is scheduled to increase by 2.9 per cent over the next three years. However, after inflation (as forecast in the Budget) is taken into account, the increase turns into a decrease of 2.2 per cent. For universities, the real drop in total operating funding is more like 2.5 or 2.7 per cent. Funding per “eligible” student – those for whom universities receive provincial operating support – will fall 7.5 per cent over the next three years.

Real per-student provincial funding has been falling since 2008-09, but this coming year it will be its lowest since the Liberals came to power in 2003. By the end of the current planning horizon in 2016, it will be its lowest since the expansion started in the sixties.

This is an unacceptable outcome, with serious implications for the quality of university education in Ontario. Whoever forms the next government, it is vital that they reverse this downward trend in funding.

“Ontario’s professors and academic librarians are committed, as always, to improving the quality, affordability, and sustainability of our universities,” said Lawson. “While today’s budget is regrettably quiet on universities, we hope the next government will be a strong partner in our work.”

TORONTO – Professors and academic librarians across Ontario are puzzled that today’s provincial budget did not make significant new investments in higher education. In a budget that seeks to “strengthen our competitive advantage, create jobs, and provide vital public services” it is surprising that universities were overlooked.

“Ontario’s universities have the capacity to achieve all of the government’s social and economic goals,” said Kate Lawson, President of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). “What’s more, they also help create healthier, more engaged, and more equal society. Investing in universities builds a more prosperous and fair Ontario, so it is strange that the government hasn’t made higher education a stronger priority.”

Ontario currently has the lowest level of per-student funding and the highest tuition fees in Canada. Increased public investment would allow universities to preserve the quality of education while ensuring they remain affordable for students and their families.

Professors and academic librarians were pleased to see provisions in the budget that will allow OCUFA to continue to develop options for fair and sustainable pension plans at Ontario’s universities. OCUFA is currently working with partners across the sector to find concrete solutions to future pension challenges.

“Ontario’s professors and academic librarians are committed, as always, to improving the quality, affordability, and sustainability of our universities,” said Lawson. “While today’s budget is regrettably quiet on universities, we hope the government will continue to be a strong partner in our work.”

OCUFA estimates reveal that the number of courses taught by precarious, part-time faculty in Ontario has jumped by 87 per cent. This is a worrying trend for both professors and the students they teach.

As reported in last week’s Data Check, the evidence is clear that the increase in the number of precarious part-time faculty in the United States far outstrips growth in full-time faculty. The elimination of the Statistics Canada survey on full-time faculty and the absence of any survey of Canadian part-time faculty make it impossible to make a direct comparison, but the available evidence that is available shows a similar trend in Ontario.

We can estimate the trend in the number of half courses taught by part-time faculty in Ontario by dividing the amount of salary paid each year to part-time faculty as reported by institutions by the respective stipends (excluding pay for vacation and benefits) paid to part-time faculty under faculty agreements or university policy. Stipends vary even within the same agreement, but if the maximum stipend is used, the method is consistent and the resulting estimates are alarming.

By that measure, between 2000 and 2012 the number of half course equivalents taught by part-time faculty rose roughly by 20,000 to 43,500. This 87 per cent jump well exceeds the one-third increase in the number of courses taught by full-time faculty. It also outpaces the 68 per cent rise in student enrolment, but the increase in precarious employment has done nothing to address Ontario’s terrible class sizes, as revealed in OCUFA Report a month ago.

Precarious faculty are excellent teachers and researchers, but their ability to be effective is compromised by the nature of contract work. They must struggle with insecurity, low wages, and no benefits, while attempting to serve students with diminished resources. Making these professors full-time improves their working conditions, and promotes student success. So what are we waiting for?

Sources:
Council of Ontario Finance Officers, Financial Report of Ontario Universities, Table 6, Operating Expenses
Collective agreements and memoranda of agreement by institution and faculty association or union
Individual institutions, Common University Data Ontario, Table H. Instructional Faculty and Class Size; institutional data
Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, USER Enrolment Data

On April 24, 2014, the Ontario Public Sector Employee Union (OPSEU) released a report outlining challenges facing college faculty. Our colleagues in the college system face many of the same challenges that we do in the university sector- from grappling with commercialization to precarious academic work to the government’s “differentiation agenda.”

The report was released at a special launch event featuring comments from report author Kevin McKay, Erika Shaker from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), the Canadian Federation of Students, and OCUFA.

Like universities, Ontario’s colleges are severely under-funded, leading to real threats to educational quality. College faculty are also being pressured to provide more online teaching, with worrying implications for academic planning and increased precarious academic work. To make matters worse, College faculty do not enjoy academic freedom protections and are not able to speak out and criticize their administrations. This is an unacceptable situation. OCUFA believes that academic freedom should be extended to faculty in the college sector.

One of the report’s key recommendations is the creation of an all-party select committee of the Ontario Legislature to examine the future of higher education in the province. OCUFA endorses this recommendation fully, and looks forward to working with OPSEU and other allies to ensure it is implemented.

Read the full report.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) recently released a report on The Employment Status of Instructional Staff Members in Higher Education. The report reveals that the growth in contingent faculty is much greater than the growth in tenured faculty, a story all-too-familiar to Canadian professors and academic librarians.

Between 1989 and 2011, the total number of faculty grew by 81 per cent, but the growth was mostly in the ranks of the continently employed. There were more than twice as many non-tenured full-time faculty and more than two and a half times the number of part-time faculty by 2011.

Between 1999 and 2011, the increase in the overall number of faculty more or less kept pace with enrolment growth. But while the total number of students grew by 41 per cent full-time ranks grew by only 23 per cent. In contrast, the number of part-time faculty expanded by 67 per cent.

The report also highlights the gendered and racialised distribution of contingent (part-time and non-tenure-track) faculty employment at US post-secondary institutions. A larger proportion of women faculty, for example, hold precarious positions than men – by a margin of ten percentage points.

It is clear that in the USA the growth of contingent faculty has outstripped the growth in full-time faculty. There is a Canadian twist to this story, which will be explored in the next issue of the OCUFA Report.

Sources:
American Association of University Professors, The Employment Status of Instructional Staff Members in Higher Education, Fall 2011
US National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, Table 303.10

This week, Minister of Finance Charles Sousa confirmed May 1, 2014 as the date for the next Ontario budget. It will be a crucial budget for the minority Liberal government; if the NDP does not support it, a spring election will be triggered.

Beyond the election stakes, every Ontario budget is important in terms of the priorities it reflects. After years of austerity-flavoured policies, it is essential that this budget make needed investments in public services. OCUFA will be looking for new funding for universities to redress Ontario’s declining level of per-student public funding. Ontario currently has the lowest level of per-student funding in Canada, and the situation is getting worse. Rising enrolment and stagnant investment is pushing per-student funding even lower, leading to a host of potential challenges to the quality of education at Ontario’s universities.

New funding is especially needed to hire more full-time faculty. OCUFA currently has the worst student-to-faculty ratio in Canada, at 28-to-1. This means less student engagement with faculty, larger class sizes, and fewer opportunities for extracurricular enrichment. OCUFA estimates that 9,300 new full-time faculty are needed by 2020 to bring Ontario’s student faculty ratio in line with the rest of Canada.

OCUFA will also be looking for the Budget to restore per-student funding for teacher training programs in Ontario. This funding was cut by 50 per cent in 2013, leading to serious financial challenges for education programs across Ontario.

The Budget should contain an announcement of a pension asset transfer framework that will allow OCUFA and its partners to continue our important work on pensions. Ideally, this announcement will come as a schedule in the budget bill.

For a complete list of OCUFA’s budget recommendations, please refer to our 2014 Budget Submission.

Academic Matters – OCUFA’s flagship journal of higher education – has added exciting new web content over the past few months.  New exclusives include commentary and analysis of program prioritization, predatory academic publishing, and a problematic new report on faculty workloads.

New content includes:

• The University of Windsor’s Vice-President and Provost Leo Groarke on why program prioritization is a divisive process that doesn’t work for faculty or administrators.
• UOIT’s Gary Genosko on the disturbing rise of predatory academic publishing, where ethics are loose and the product suspect.
• A piercing critique of new research put out by HEQCO on academic workloads by Windsor’s James Winter.
• The University of Alberta’s Edmund Aunger on how the Fraser Institute’s work on minority-language education is little more than political propaganda.

Access to Academic Matters is always free online. Check back often for new blogs and web exclusives, and look out for our May issue on your campus.

There are still spaces available for the “Feminist Transformative Leadership in the Academy” workshop, hosted by OCUFA’s Status of Women Committee (SWC). The workshop will be held on May 23 at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto.

The workshop will feature a panel of female academic leaders who will facilitate break-out tables of participants over lunch for in-depth discussions on the challenges to and tools needed for successful transformation in the academy.

Confirmed panelists include Sheila Embleton, Karleen Pendleton Jimenez, David DeVidi and Peggy Smith. After the panel, participants will have a working lunch to brainstorm on strategies for transforming the academy, share examples of what’s working well in our academic lives and what else we need. Lunch tables will be hosted by either a panelist or Status of Women committee

The $75 workshop registration fee includes lunch and workshop materials. Participants are encouraged to seek travel and other financial support from their local faculty association as soon as possible.

Click here to register.

Do you know an exceptional university teacher or academic librarian? Be sure to nominate them for an OCUFA Teaching or Academic Librarianship Award by May 23, 2014.

Since 1973, these awards have recognized individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the quality of Ontario’s universities. All members of an OCUFA-affiliate faculty association are eligible. Winners will receive their awards at a gala lunch, to be held in October 2014 in Toronto. For more information, including nomination forms and guidelines, please visit the Teaching and Academic Librarianship page.

Please note that OCUFA no longer accepts paper nominations. All nomination material should be submitted online.

The Government of Ontario recently introduced two pieces of legislation that may affect the provinces universities. Bill 151 has the potential to increase government access to university data, while Bill 179 extends ombudsman oversight over universities.

Bill 151, the Strengthening and Improving Government Act, was introduced at the end of December. It has had one round of second reading debate, but has not yet been voted on. The Bill is intended to be housekeeping legislation, and will increase government access to student data in order to facilitate the implementation of the Ontario Education Number (OEN) system. However, it may also have the effect of increasing access to faculty data. OCUFA is concerned about this potential intrusion into our members’ personal information. We raised these concerns about the Bill with the Ministers of Training Colleges and Universities and the Minister of Government Services. We will also be working with civil service staff in the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities to address our concerns in the coming weeks.

Bill 179, which places universities under the purview of the provincial Ombudsman, was introduced on March 24, 2014. It is not clear what powers the Ombudsman will have in relation to universities, although they will likely include the ability to investigate complaints. If clumsily applied to teaching and course design, these new powers may threaten academic freedom.  We are seeking legal advice on the implications of this policy for our members, and will be tracking the legislation closely.

There has been a deluge of provincial budget-related news over the past few weeks. With all of the leaks, accusations, and revelations, it is difficult to know exactly what is going. Here at OCUFA, we’re working to separate the signal from the noise.

The stakes are high with the upcoming budget, as it is widely expected that the NDP and PC will defeat it and trigger an election. So, the budget timeline is in effect an election timeline. Earlier this week, several confidential budget documents were leaked.  These documents suggested that the budget would be introduced on May 1, 2014. This confirms what OCUFA has been hearing from its sources. It is therefore likely that the budget will arrive within a week of May 1 – either on April 24th or May 8th.

There is an outside chance that the NDP will decide to support the budget. In which case, the opposition will not have another opportunity to topple the government until fall 2014.

The Liberal government has hinted that the budget will continue to make the elimination of the deficit a goal, but will make modest investments in areas important to economic growth (likely infrastructure and education).  In recent public comments, both Premier Kathleen Wynne and Finance Minister Charles Sousa have emphasized the need for “balance.” They have also been pushing the message that the Liberals are the “steady hand” that Ontario needs, while the opposition parties are “reckless.”

Ontario continues to be in a difficult financial situation. It is clear that government revenue is lower than projected, due in no small part to their unwillingness to look at ways of generating additional income. It is therefore unlikely that the budget will contain significant new funding for higher education. Nevertheless, OCUFA will continue to argue for long-term, visionary investment in universities and colleges to hire more full-time faculty, freeze tuition fees, and improve the quality of education.