TORONTO, February 8, 2019 – Susan Hillock, an associate professor at Trent University, has won the 2018 Equity and Social Justice Committee Award of Distinction, presented by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). The award, sponsored by OCUFA’s Equity and Social Justice Committee, recognizes faculty whose work has improved the lives and working […]
TORONTO, February 6, 2019 – A new report published by a working group of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations exposes substantial issues with student questionnaires on courses and teaching (SQCTs), including endemic bias and systemic discrimination. These end-of-term student questionnaires are common practice at universities across Canada. The report finds that student questionnaire […]
The report of OCUFA the Working Group on Student Questionnaires on Courses and Teaching (SQCT) has now been released . Prompted by increasing reports of the misuse of results and the harassment of faculty through anonymous comments, and by suggestions in the policy community that SQCT scores be used as university “performance” metrics, OCUFA established the […]
The University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA) has reached a four-year agreement with the Western University administration. The agreement includes significant advances towards expanded job security provisions for contract faculty and important improvements and clarifications on the uses of Student Questionnaires on Courses and Teaching in the faculty appointment, evaluation, tenure, and promotion processes. […]
Le récent énoncé économique du gouvernement de l’Ontario en automne dernier a révélé que les progressistes-conservateurs ne financeraient plus ni n’iraient de l’avant avec l’université de langue française devant être construite à Toronto. Dans le cadre d’une tendance devenue inquiétante pour ce gouvernement, l’annonce a été faite sans discussion avec les intervenants du secteur, notamment […]
The Ontario Government’s recent fall economic statement revealed that the Progressive Conservatives would no longer be funding or moving forward with the French-language university set to be built in Toronto. In what has become a disturbing trend for this government, the announcement was made without any discussion with sector stakeholders, including faculty and students, and, […]
The York University Faculty Association (YUFA) has reached a three-year agreement with the York University administration. As part of the settlement, YUFA achieved a commitment from the university to hire six Indigenous faculty over the life of the agreement, and to work with the faculty association to undertake an equal pay exercise for women, racialized […]
On Saturday, October 20 and Sunday, October 21, OCUFA held its first Board of Directors Meeting of the 2018-19 academic year. The weekend oriented new board members to OCUFA and allowed members to discuss the results of the 2018 provincial election and what it could mean for Ontario’s universities. With that context, members reviewed OCUFA’s […]
On Thursday, November 15, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Government released its fall economic statement. The 155-page document offers an update on the status of Ontario’s finances and contains numerous government announcements across many different sectors. Also known as the mini-budget, the fall economic statement outlines some of the government’s plans for the public sector and […]
The University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA) has been working hard to negotiate a fair deal with the university administration. Years of budget cuts have left teachers and researchers over-worked and under-supported. Contract faculty at Western deserve job security. Just a few days ago, three very popular faculty members did not have their contracts […]
TORONTO, November 5, 2018 – The Ontario Universities and Colleges Coalition (OUCC), which represents more than 435,000 faculty, students, and staff at every public postsecondary institution in the province, is calling on the Ontario Government to protect decent work laws. Millions of workers, including hundreds of thousands employed by or studying at Ontario’s universities and […]
This year’s Educated Solutions, the annual magazine published by the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, features a thought-provoking article by OCUFA President Gyllian Phillips on the need to invest in faculty renewal at Ontario’s universities. The article explains how Ontario’s universities are underfunded, and the dangers associated with increasing student tuition fees, even when they are […]
The Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) has reached a collective agreement with the University of Sudbury on behalf of the university’s tenure-stream and sessional faculty. LUFA achieved competitive across-the-board salary increases and adjustments to compensation that have narrowed the pay gap between faculty at the University of Sudbury and Laurentian University’s other federated institutions. Significantly, […]
Ontario’s universities and colleges are vital spaces where a culture of rich academic debate and free expression should be fostered. Core to the mandate of our postsecondary institutions is the advancement of knowledge, and that requires our campuses to be places where all community members have the right to speak their minds and respectfully challenge […]
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) has launched a Charter challenge to contest the government’s cancellation of the Colleges Task Force. Following five weeks of picket lines, the task force was established as part the arbitration award that ended last fall’s college faculty strike. The task force was meant to address many of the major outstanding issues in […]
