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Data Check: New data shows that Ontario does well on R&D expenditure

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The latest provincial-level data on Research and Development (R&D) shows that R&D expenditures as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Ontario continue to be higher than the national average. Only Quebec spends more.
 
Although Canadian – and Ontario and Quebec – businesses spend comparatively less than the OECD average, they still account for the largest proportion of R&D expenditures. Quebec businesses invest at a higher rate than those in Ontario, but in both provinces business expenditure on R&D are markedly higher than in other provinces.
 
Higher education is the next largest contributor in Canada, Ontario and Quebec. As a percentage of GDP, Ontario’s universities and colleges’ rate of expenditure is roughly the same as the Canadian average. Quebec higher education institutions spend comparatively more. Some of the difference is due to business and federal funding, but the Quebec government also provides more direct support for university (and other) research than the Ontario government.

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Data Check: Success in the academy still determined by gender

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The Council of Canadian Academies’ report on the gender dimensions of Canada’s research capacity found that the pattern of under-representation of women in universities is similar to that in other advanced countries. While recognizing Canadian women have made great strides, the assessment identified a number of life-course factors affecting their success.
 
The broadest factor concerns the learning and professional trajectories of women. Overall, Canada has not done enough to uphold its stated commitments to women’s rights. Building stronger social services to “enable parents to combine family and work responsibilities” and promoting programs to “reduce gender stereotypes” would do more to close the gap for all women, and academic women in particular.
 
Before entering university, gender socialization affects women’s career choices, and reinforces the lack of encouragement or support for entering certain fields (such as science, technology, and engineering). Confidence levels are affected by gender equity. Negative perceptions and lack of understanding of the nature of research careers, and the lack of role models – as researchers and leaders in the research community – also tend to push women away from opportunities in disciplines where women are under-represented.
 
Even after they have entered the academy, women may also face institutional practices that have not entirely come to grips with stereotyping and assessment biases that undervalue their research expertise and productivity. The “small but persistent university salary gap” also has cumulative effects over the longer term.
 
Life outside the academy has a significant effect on research productivity and the ability to progress up the academic career ladder. Women shoulder greater responsibility for child care and the “second shift” of domestic work. Apart from the implications these may have for criteria applied to career progress, the Council notes that an effective national child care program would significantly enhance gender equity not just in personal but in professional terms.
 
Council of Canadian Academies, Strengthening Canada’s Research Capacity: The Gender Dimension

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Data Check: Women still underrepresented in Canadian universities

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Female academics in Canada have made gains, but their progress remains uneven by discipline and rank according to new research.
 
The Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) recently released an assessment of the factors influencing the career paths of women academics at Canadian universities. Part of the story it tells is similar to the one outlined in last year’s Statistics Canada report on doctoral students and university faculty. Overall, as women have come to represent a larger proportion of doctoral students and graduates, their share of university teaching positions has increased.
 
But they are still underrepresented, and there are noticeable differences between discipline. The CCA report draws attention to the fact that women comprised about 59 per cent of doctoral students in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education (HSE) and 53 per cent of doctoral candidates in Life Sciences (LS) fields in 2008-09. In contrast, women accounted for only 48 and 46 per cent, respectively, of Assistant Professors in those fields. In the Physical and Computer Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics (PCEM) disciplines, the proportion of women in the ranks of Assistant Professors was virtually the same as the proportion of female doctoral students in these fields. The proportion of women working in every field falls relative to men in the higher academic ranks.
 
In other words, there are two different patterns in the under-representation of women. In one, women are not as likely as their male counterparts in the same field to move into a university teaching and research position. In the other, women are under-represented relative to their share of the general population throughout Canadian universities.
 
The CCA report also addresses reasons why these patterns may persist, to be discussed next week.
 
Council of Canadian Academies, Strengthening Canada’s Research Capacity: The Gender Dimension
Statistics Canada, Doctoral Students and University Teaching Staff, February 2011

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

The problems of comparing Ontario to California

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Last week, former COU head Ian Clark published an article in the National Post calling for Ontario to adopt California-style university differentiation. Based on a larger research paper submitted to the Government of Ontario, Clark argues that Californian universities get more teaching and research for public dollars than Ontarian institutions.

In a recently published response, Ken Snowdon takes this argument apart (full disclosure: OCUFA did not commission this report or support it in any way). The full document is an important read, but here is an instructive excerpt:

So let’s be clear. There are a few facts about California public universities that seem evident. The California UC and CSU systems are different than Ontario’s university system. California funding per student (UC and CSU combined) is considerably higher – over $1 billion annually. The graduation rates at UC are similar to Ontario’s but considerably lower at CSU. On the research front, the UC system is an acknowledged research powerhouse and – according to a soon to be released HEQCO report – apparently Ontario compares very well with other jurisdictions in Canada. Just think if Ontario’s universities had a $1 billion more in operating funding! And imagine if sponsored research was funded properly in this country!

For the past few years Clark and his colleagues have been very successful at ‘spinning’ a story about too little teaching and too much research into an argument for greater differentiation. Greater differentiation – it is argued – is more efficient and therefore less expensive and therefore more sustainable. The fact is they have provided little evidence to support their case and, as illustrated by the California example, when evidence is provided the one indisputable fact is that it is clearly not less expensive on a per student basis.

Is it better? Well, it appears graduation rates are not better. And it appears that access to university is more limited. And it appears UC tuition is higher and CSU tuition is similar.

Snowdon also points out that there is great deal of evidence to support the claim that Ontario’s current university model has proved very successful in meeting the province’s needs.

Snowdon’s observations echo similar comments published by Academic Matters, OCUFA’s journal of higher education, and carry important lessons for policy-makers. When comparing jurisdictions, it is essential that the comparisons between “apples-to-apples” and not “apples-to-oranges”. Careful attention must be paid to the accuracy and comparability of data. Analyses should focus on inputs and outputs. And erroneous comparisons must not distract from urgent policy issues, such as the chronically under-funded research and teaching activities of Ontario’s universities.

OCUFA meets with PC Critic Rob Leone

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On November 28, 2012, OCUFA President Constance Adamson met with Rob Leone, MPP for Cambridge and PC Critic for Training, Colleges, and Universities. The purpose of the meeting was to provide the faculty perspective on higher education issues for an upcoming Tory white paper.
 
During the meeting, Adamson highlighted the need for teaching and research to remain connected, and to ensure that student success is at the heart of any credit transfer, online learning, or credential reform. In addition, the urgent need for public investment in Ontario’s universities was discussed.
 
Adamson also expressed OCUFA’s opposition to ideas contained within the Tories’ recently released whitepapers on pension reform and labour laws. OCUFA strongly believes that pension reform should be driven by employees, and that protection for workers must remain strong in Ontario.
 
It is not clear when the higher education whitepaper will be released. OCUFA plans to thoroughly analyze the proposals it contains, and will be providing feedback directly to Mr. Leone.

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Data Check: Ontario leads the USA in university productivity

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Much has been made recently about the “productivity” of Ontario’s universities. But when it comes to graduation rates – a key indicator of productivity – Ontario leads the United States by a huge margin.
 
In 2010, the Ontario government set a goal of a 70 per cent post-secondary attainment rate (including apprenticeships) amongst Ontarians by 2020. This would mean an increase in the college and university attainment rate among Ontario’s 25-64 year-old population from 57 per cent to 62 per cent. In the US, the Lumina Foundation has set a similarly ambitious goal for Americans: increasing the college and university attainment rate from 42 to 60 per cent by 2025.
 
Attainment rates are a function of participation rates— the proportion of the population pursuing post-secondary education – and graduation rates. If one or both of these rates remains static increases, the attainment rate rises. At 43 per cent, the 2010 participation rate* in the US is almost as high as Ontario’s 46 per cent.
 
The Lumina Foundation has set its sights on improving America’s post-secondary “productivity” – increasing the number of successful graduates compared to the number of first-time registrants. The United States performs poorly in this area: the overall graduation rate amongst US university undergraduates is 58 per cent, and 56 per cent at public institutions. At community colleges it is 30 per cent and public colleges 20 per cent.
 
Despite being at a comparative financial disadvantage, Ontario’s public institutions still manage to achieve graduation rates of 80 per cent at universities, even after excluding first-professional degrees, and 75 per cent at colleges. By the Lumina Foundation’s standards, Ontario’s universities are extremely productive.
 
* Participation rate = number of full-time fall enrolments as a proportion of the 18-24 year population in July.
 
National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2011; Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2010; Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2010; and Graduation Rates, Selected Cohorts, 2002–07
Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, Graduation, Job and OSAP Default Rates; Colleges’ Key Performance Indicators
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators
Statistics Canada, Education Indicators in Canada: An International Perspective 2012
U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Current Estimates Data

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Time is running out to register for OCUFA’s “Academia in the Age of Austerity” conference

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Our latest conference is coming up quickly—only a month and a half remains to register for “Academia in the Age of Austerity.”
 
The program features two days of insightful presentations and engaging discussion with speakers and participants from universities, research institutes, government, and the private sector in Canada, the United States, and Europe.  The conference will critically explore the idea of “austerity” by exploring its impact on students, faculty, and institutions. In addition, we will be considering other possible policy alternatives to the current push towards retrenchment seen around the globe.
 
Confirmed speakers include:

  • Andre Turcotte, President, Feedback Research, and Associate Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University
  • Jim Stanford, economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Canadian Auto Workers
  • Joel Westheimer, University Research Chair in the Sociology of Education, University of Ottawa
  • Glen Jones, Ontario Research Chair in Postsecondary Education Policy and Measurement and Professor of Higher Education, OISE-University of Toronto
  • Claire Callender, Professor of Higher Education, Birkbeck and Institute of Education, University of London, U.K.
  • William Locke, Head of Learning and Teaching, Higher Education Funding Council for England, U.K.
  • Jeffrey J. Williams, Professor of English and of Literary and Cultural Studies, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania
  • Jérémie Bédard-Wien, Secrétaire aux finances, Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ), Quebec

For more information and to register, please visit the conference page.

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Data Check: faculty stress rises as budgets fall in US public institutions

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The latest survey of faculty by the Higher Education Research Institute indicates that stress levels have gone up for full-time faculty members at US universities and four-year colleges. The single most common cause of “some” or “extensive” stress for those at public universities is “institutional budget cuts” – cited by 86 per cent of respondents, as compared to 47 per cent at private universities.
 
For faculty at public universities, workload was also a source of stress – 85 per cent cited “self imposed high expectations” and 82 per cent pointed to “lack of personal time” as causes of anxiety. Next on the list is “working with unprepared students” and “institutional procedures or ‘red tape’.” Similar proportions of respondents identified “research or publishing demands” and “managing household responsibilities” as additional stressors.
 
There were significant gender differences in stress due to managing household responsibilities for faculty at public universities: 82 per cent of women experienced stress as a result, compared to 70 per cent of men. Noticeable differences occur in the career commitment dimension as well: 89 and 88 per cent of women indicated that self-expectations and personal time constraints were points of stress for them respectively.
 
No comparable data exists for Canadian or Ontario faculty, but with public expenditures static or declining, and with workload climbing, we can expect our academic women and men to be experiencing similar strain.
 
Higher Education Research Institute, Undergraduate Teaching Faculty: The 2010-2011 HERI Faculty Survey; Undergraduate Teaching Faculty: The 2010-2011 HERI Faculty Survey Expanded Tables; The American College Teacher: National Norms for the 2007-2008 HERI Faculty Survey

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Data check: OECD rankings of public and private expenditure on higher education

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The latest education indicators from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggest that Canada ranks third amongst OECD countries in annual expenditures per student in tertiary (college and university) education. These figures include expenditures by governments on direct support to colleges and universities, support for research and development, and financial support to individuals in the form of student aid and loans.
 
They also include expenditures by private sources, including household expenditures on items such as tuition. The proportion of total expenditures represented by public sources in Canada is 63 per cent, well below the OECD average of 70 per cent. Looking only at public expenditures on public institutions, Canada’s ranking falls to tenth.
 
It is difficult to know where Ontario would fit into the rankings, but if Canadian provincial operating funding and United States state appropriations per student are anything to go by, Ontario would likely rank somewhere in the middle of a pack that includes 10 countries with a GDP per capita 75  per cent of Canada’s.
 
Source: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Education at a Glance: Indicators 2012

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities Glen Murray resigns to pursue Liberal leadership

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Glen Murray has resigned his cabinet post as Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities to pursue the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party. The leader – and premier – position was left open following the resignation of Dalton McGuinty on October 15, 2012.

Minister Murray’s campaign page, RenewLiberal.ca, does not yet contain full platform details. However, it does hint that he is interested in introducing and income contingent loan program to Ontario.

Following Minister Murray’s resignation from cabinet, Minister John Milloy was appointed the new Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities. Milloy had held the post prior to Murray’s appointment and knows the sector well. OCUFA is seeking clarification on how this changeover will affect Minister Murray’s plans for reforming Ontario’s universities. In a statement to the Waterloo Region Record, Milloy indicated that the reform plan may be on pause. Said the Minister

“We want to keep initiatives moving along but in terms of the longer term initiatives a lot of that will wait for the new premier.”

This week, Murray was joined by Kathleen Wynne in the contest for the Liberal leadership. They are the only two candidates to formally declare so far.

Data Check: Universities pick up the slack on Canadian R&D – except in Ontario

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As the province, feds, and private sector do less for research and development, universities are being forced to do more – often at the expense of basic operating funds. When per-student public funding falls at our universities, so do R&D expenditures.
 
As we’ve shown over the past few weeks, major players in research and development are scaling back their contributions to the Canadian research and development (R&D) effort. Historically, Canadian universities have picked up some of the slack left by business and have contributed proportionately more to national R&D than higher education institutions in the rest of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
 
The latest data from Statistics Canada indicate that the past decade’s general pattern of increasing R&D expenditure in the Canadian higher education sector continues. Nationally, inflation-adjusted total expenditures rose by three per cent. Self-funded R&D – expenditures funded from institutional operating funds – rose by four per cent between 2009-10 and 2010-11.
 
In Ontario, however, overall expenditures on R&D in higher education fell by one per cent over the same one year period. Self-funded research activity declined by two per cent. Combined with the effect of a similar decline over the previous year, self-funded R&D by Ontario’s institutions is down by five per cent over two years.
 
In addition to teaching, all Canadian universities fund some proportion of their research effort from operating funds. But Ontario universities rank last in per student operating funding from their provincial government. It is no coincidence that self-funded R&D has been declining at the same time as per-student funding from the provincial government has fallen.
 
When it comes to R&D, Ontario’s universities are disadvantaged in four ways: by a sleepy private sector, by declining federal research funds, by cuts to provincial research programs, and by the gradual decline in per-student funding. The government talks a good game about innovation…but when will they actually support it?
 
Source: Statistics Canada, Spending on research and development in the higher education sector, 2010/2011 (final)
Council of Ontario Finance Officers – Universities of Ontario, Financial Report of Universities
Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, USER Enrolment Data

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities meets with OCUFA Board of Directors

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Last weekend, the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Glen Murray met with OCUFA’s Board of Directors during its October meeting. The Minister was questioned on his plans for higher education reform in Ontario, on the government’s agenda for university pension plans, and on public sector wage restraint.
 
Overall, it was clear that the Minister has opted for a longer-term, more measured approach to university reform. While he is interested in pursuing pilot projects at specific universities – informed by the Strategic Mandate Agreement process – there will not be an attempt to impose change across the sector.
 
On pensions, the Minister announced that the Government of Ontario will support OCUFA’s proposal to research the implications of suggested changes to university plans. The Minister also reiterated the government’s desire for a two-year wage freeze for university faculty, although he did not indicate how they plan to achieve this goal in the wake of the prorogation of the Legislature.
 
OCUFA will continue to meet with Minister Murray and his staff to ensure that faculty perspectives are well understood and reflected in policy proposals going forward.

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Data Check: Ontario lags Canada in public support for research and development

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Like the federal government and Canadian business, the Ontario government talks a good game about the need to innovate. But when it comes to funding research and development, it also balks at the walk. According to Statistics Canada, and after adjusting for inflation, the Ontario government spent 29 per cent less on R&D in 2010-11 than it did in 2006-07.
 
Other provinces for which there are data show different patterns, but each are spending more on innovation. A 17 per cent increase in the Quebec government’s spending means it now outspends Ontario, even though its economy is half the size. As a proportion of their respective economies, each of the other provincial governments spend more than Ontario; combined they spend twice as much.
 
The largest single share of provincial government expenditures typically goes to support for R&D at institutions of higher learning. The unadjusted share going to Ontario’s higher education sector has climbed slightly, but the inflation-adjusted amount has declined by 14 per cent. Meanwhile, support for research at universities in other provinces has increased by a combined 16 per cent.
 
As we know, other provinces also provide higher levels of per-student operating support for their universities. Meanwhile, the Ontario government plans effectively to reduce its support by cutting research dollars, primarily for basic research and for the social sciences and humanities. All provincial governments have suffered in the wake of the Great Recession, but only Ontario seems most determined to stimulate “innovation” by hollowing out universities’ bats and urging them to hit a home run by sheer force of imagination.
 
Source: Statistics Canada, Scientific and Technological Activities of Provincial Governments and Provincial Research Organizations, 2006/2007 to 2010/2011 September 2012 Edition; National economic accounts: Provinces and territories

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

Data Check: Federal Government Research and Development Activities

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If innovation is the name of the game for improving Canada’s economic prospects, who is paying for the research and development (R&D) that contributes to the effort? Last week we saw that business is losing interest. It seems the next biggest funder, the federal government, is getting out of the business too.
 
Statistics Canada reports that federal expenditures on R&D for this year will be significantly lower than they were two years before, the peak year for federal spending. Even if the short-term R&D bump provided by federal stimulus funding through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program is removed, federal investment still fell by 7 per cent.  If forecasts for inflation in the economy are correct, the inflation-adjusted reduction amounts to 11 per cent.
 
Federal government research agencies account for most federal R&D expenditures and absorbed the biggest hit – a 22 per cent decline in investment after inflation. The biggest “extramural” recipients of federal support – higher education and business – also saw less money from the federal government since 2010.Taking a longer view, federal agencies’ spending is down 10 per cent, support for post-secondary institutions is barely 2 per cent higher and federal funding for business R&D (including incentives and tax breaks) rose by 18 per cent. This last figure is troubling, since last week’s OCUFA Report revealed that private R&D investment in Canada has been falling steadily.
 
Everyone agrees that research and development is essential for economic success. So why won’t the private sector and federal government invest in it?
 
Sources: Statistics Canada, Federal Scientific Activities 2012/2013; Industrial Research and Development: Intentions 2012
September and October forecasts, Canadian financial institutions, Policy and Economic Analysis Program

This article originally appeared in the OCUFA Report. To receive stories like this every week in your inbox, please subscribe.

The resignation of Dalton McGuinty: What it means for Faculty Associations

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Last night, Dalton McGuinty resigned as premier and prorogued the Ontario Legislature.  This means that all legislative business has ceased and all legislation currently being considered dies on the order paper.  When a new session of the Legislature is eventually convened, it will be a new session of parliament, accompanied by a Throne Speech.  All legislation that was previously being considered will have to be re-introduced, alongside any new legislation the government wishes to propose.

We do not know when the Legislature will meet again.    The Liberals will be preoccupied with a leadership convention, and likely do not want the legislature to be in session while they select a new leader.  A prorogued legislature will give the Liberals time to elect a new leader,  present itself as a “new and refreshed” party, present a campaign-focused budget, and gear up for an election — which could very well take place in the Spring.

In his resignation speech, the Premier also said that during the period that the legislature is prorogued, the government would like to discuss a negotiated wage freeze with its labour “partners”, and failing that, bring in wage freeze legislation with the cooperation of at least one opposition party.   As he put it:  “two tasks lay ahead —  first to negotiate wage freezes with public sectors unions; second, to work with the opposition to form a legislated plan that can pass the minority government.  When the House returns we’re going to either have negotiated agreements in hand or a legislative plan supported by the opposition.”

At this point, we do not know what this means for the government’s proposed anti-labour legislation.The draft bill was not introduced in the legislature, and could change significantly or be dropped altogether. As Premier McGuinty noted, wage restraint continues to be a priority for the government and it is likely that a new leader will still pursue some form of wage restraint (either legislated or negotiated). Any legislation will have to wait until the legislature sits again, which could be as long as six months from now. We also do not know where this leaves the government’s post-secondary education reform agenda, or its work to change public sector pensions. Again, it is likely that both initiatives will remain a priority for the government, though how this will manifest in public policy is unclear.

We will be seeking more information from our contacts in government, opposition parties and the bureaucracy on how these government initiatives may develop in the coming months. This legislative “pause” also gives OCUFA an opportunity to plan targeted interventions (with leadership candidates,  influential MPPs, and sympathetic opposition parties), a longer period to educated and mobilize our own members, and  more time to strengthen our connection and coordination with other public sector unions in order to push back against destructive anti-labour legislation, unwelcome pension changes, and unwise university reforms.

We will keep you informed as more information comes available.