In last week’s Data Check, we demonstrated how Ontario lags the rest of Canada in per-student operating and research revenue. This week, we show how Ontario’s per-student university expenditures are also lower, particularly when it comes to faculty salaries. With occasional exceptions, it is the rule that university expenses are lower than revenues. So it […]
OCUFA is busy planning a University Finance Workshop, to be held on November 13th in Toronto. The inaugural issue of the new Report on Ontario University Finances is set to be released later this month. With these events in mind, Data Check is taking a brief look at university revenues this week. Next week’s issue […]
New data shows that the decline in business and government support cannot be offset by R&D spending in the higher education sector – and the way Canada counts R&D activity in universities tells us a lot about the activities public funding is intended to support. While trends in expenditures on research and development (R&D) by […]
The latest news about research and development (R&D) spending intentions for the coming year echoes the same sad story that has appeared in previous issues of OCUFA Report . The Government of Canada’s planned expenditures demonstrates that the national R&D effort continues to decline. The federal government will be increasing spending by slightly more than half a per cent. Since 2010, federal R&D […]
For those who track research funding in Canada, the news from a recent Statistics Canada release about business enterprise research and development (BERD) is depressingly familiar. Canadian businesses are expected to spend two and a half per cent less on research and development this year than they did last year. Because the 2015 inflation rate […]
A recent report from the Conference Board of Canada argues that postsecondary education in Canada is a “growth industry”. It indicates that every dollar spent on postsecondary education delivers $1.36 for the Canadian economy. As a result, colleges and universities generate over $55 billion in economic activity once their $40 billion in direct spending and its multiplier effect is considered. According to the […]
The latest release of research and development (R&D) statistics from Statistics Canada is further confirmation that business and federal government spending continues to decline. The data should raise some alarm bells in light of Rivka Carmi’s and Martha Crago’s timely op-ed about the importance of university-based basic research to the innovation agenda proposed by business and government. […]
New data from the Times Higher Education explores the impact of austerity on European universities. Their analysis of finances and student numbers from 2008-2013 paints a fascinating picture of the different paths taken by countries struggling with the need to accommodate increased student demand and the long hangover of the Great Recession. In all nine countries surveyed, student numbers continue to expand. However, […]
Research and development should be a partnership between business, universities, and government. The latest data on Industrial Research and Development have now been released by Statistics Canada, and it shows that business is letting down its side of the deal. Canadian business spending on research and development activities is expected to be at its lowest level in 2014 than […]
The latest data from the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO) indicates that Ontario’s per-student provincial operating funding for 2012-13 was 35 per cent less than the average in the rest of Canada. When it comes to funding levels, we are the undisputed kings of the basement. After the deep cuts imposed by Mike […]
Almost half of funding for sponsored research at Ontario universities comes from the federal government. About two-thirds of federal support is from the federal granting councils.* After a recent decline in federal funding for university research, announcements in the Federal Budget seem to make a big splash. But the reality is, after inflation, federal funding for university […]
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 […]
On November 14, 2013, the magazine Fast Company published a remarkable article . A profile of Udacity founder and Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) evangelist Sebastian Thrun, it contains a stunning revelation: even those closest to the MOOC industry have serious doubts about their quality and educational impact. As Thrun states: “We were on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, and […]
It might be overstating the case for the Globe and Mail’s Konrad Yakabuski to “ blame business ” for Canada’s poor showing in research and development (R&D). But it is also becoming increasingly clear it makes little sense to demand universities and university researchers to become more business-like and pick up the entrepreneurial slack. As we noted a couple of weeks ago, the […]
Much has been made about the supposed Canadian “skills gap”, or the mismatch between the skills needed to fill vacant jobs and the skills actually possessed by workers. But new research by TD Economics suggests that the “gap” is largely a myth. The study, Jobs in Canada , finds that concerns about the skills gap are unsupported by […]
