The 2017 Ontario Budget failed to make much-needed investments in the province’s universities. This continued underfunding threatens the quality of education and will cause Ontario to fall even further behind other provinces in public per-student funding. The budget includes no new university operating funding for the next three years. Adjusted for inflation, this will amount […]
TORONTO – The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) is pleased to announce this year’s recipients of the OCUFA Service Award: Craig Heron from the York University Faculty Association (YUFA), and Glenna Knutson from the Lakehead University Faculty Association (LUFA). “The OCUFA Service Award was established to honour individuals who have done, or continue […]
TORONTO – Ontario’s faculty and academic librarians are troubled the government has not made much-needed investments in the province’s universities. This budget threatens the quality of education and will cause Ontario to fall even further behind other provinces in per-student funding. “As professors, we are committed to providing our students with a vibrant and enriching […]
Worldviews Lecture tackles populist challenge for universities On April 5, Professor Sir Peter Scott, a Professor of Higher Education Studies at the UCL Institute of Education, delivered the third annual Worldviews Lecture on Media and Education with a focus on the populist challenge for universities. In a live video broadcast to an audience in the […]
On Thursday, March 16, members of the Windsor University Faculty Association (WUFA) gathered at Windsor’s historic Walkerville Brewery to enjoy a night of great music, refreshing drinks, and engaging conversation. The evening brought together tenured and contract faculty from across the university. It provided an opportunity for faculty to get to know each other, develop […]
Download a pdf of this document. It is a common practice at universities to have students complete end-of-term questionnaires about their courses and instructors. Sometimes called student evaluations of teaching (SETs) or student questionnaires on courses and teaching (SQCTs), these are often used to make decisions about faculty tenure and promotion without an appreciation of their limitations. These questionnaires could be […]
On March 3 and 4, OCUFA co-sponsored and attended a national conference on university governance hosted by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA BC). The event, “University Governance in the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges of Openness, Accountability, and Democracy,” sparked important exchanges between faculty, staff, and university administrators about policy challenges […]
On Friday, March 10, more than 100 faculty members at Western University came together for a solidarity lunch hosted by the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association’s contract faculty committee. Supported by OCUFA, the lunch was a unique and creative event that provided an opportunity to build solidarity leading up to bargaining in 2018. At […]
Are books a condition of our labour? Do we need libraries with stacks and physical collections? Recent discussions within libraries across the country have highlighted faculty anxiety and displeasure with the fate of university libraries, as cuts are made to purchasing and operating budgets, collections culled, and the very nature of acquisitions transformed by changes […]
On Wednesday, March 1, university faculty from across Ontario gathered in Toronto to participate in a day of advocacy at the Ontario Legislature. Twenty-three faculty ambassadors spent the day meeting with over 35 Members of Provincial Parliament who have universities in their region. These included the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development Deb Matthews, […]
On February 11 and 12, 2017, OCUFA held its second Board meeting of the 2016-17 academic year. The weekend provided an opportunity to discuss recent developments in higher education and review the organization’s current priorities: faculty pensions, contract faculty and faculty complement, university funding, and university governance. And, at a special reception, the Lorimer Award […]
OCUFA is proud to celebrate outstanding achievement in teaching and academic librarianship at Ontario universities. Anyone within the university community can nominate a faculty member or librarian. Award recipients are selected by an independent OCUFA committee made up of faculty, librarians, and student representatives. Deadline for nominations for 2016-2017 awards: May 26, 2017. Please submit […]
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) stands in solidarity with refugees, immigrants, and all communities targeted by acts of violence and intolerance. OCUFA is deeply saddened by the attack on the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec and extends condolences to the victims, families, and communities suffering in the aftermath of this hate crime. […]
OCUFA has set out its priorities for the 2017 Ontario Budget in a written submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. Preserving the quality of university education in Ontario provides a vision for postsecondary education founded on a strong, comprehensive system of public funding that is accessible, high quality, and provides good […]
LONDON – An agreement ratified on October 12 at Brescia University College represents great strides by Canada’s only women’s university towards closing the gender wage gap for professors in Ontario. The deal reached between the Brescia Faculty Association and Brescia University College will bring pay for professors at Brescia – the majority of whom are […]
