The Ontario Government has been working with the province’s universities to develop Strategic Mandate Agreements (SMAs) that identify each institution’s strengths and set out how the government can work to best support the strategic priorities of each institution and the system as a whole. However, the process by which these agreements have been developed has […]
The government’s announcement of its intention to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2019 is a victory for workers across Ontario and for faculty who have been active members of the Fight for $15 & Fairness , a provincial campaign calling on the provincial government to take decisive action to address precarious work. Faculty still have a role to […]
Following the introduction of government legislation to implement select recommendations from the Changing Workplaces Review, Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development Deb Matthews distributed a letter to stakeholders in Ontario’s postsecondary education sector reaffirming the government’s commitment to fair employment and supporting universities and colleges during the transition to new labour and employment laws. This letter to […]
While planning for the 2017-18 academic year, the Contract Faculty and Faculty Complement Committee spent some time looking back on its creative, eventful, and effective first three years. Since its creation, the committee has worked hard on education and solidarity-building strategies to address the issues facing both contract and tenured faculty. Over the past 15 […]
University professors and academic librarians are pleased that the government is taking steps to bring more fairness to workplaces across Ontario. Today’s announcement by the Ontario Government includes positive measures to ensure equal pay for part-time and casual workers, more reasonable scheduling, and better rules for joining unions in some sectors. It also includes a welcome plan […]
On Tuesday, May 23, the Ontario Government released the final report of the Changing Workplaces Review. The review was initiated in 2015 to consider the province’s existing employment and labour law and how it might be improved to address the growth of precarious work and create better conditions for workers. The rise of precarious work […]
On Saturday, May 13, OCUFA held its final Board of Directors meeting for the 2016-17 academic year. The day was an opportunity to discuss recent developments in higher education and review the organization’s current priorities: university funding, contract faculty and faculty complement, university governance, and faculty pensions. During a special lunchtime reception, board members celebrated […]
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 Henry Mandelbaum Fellowship: Laura Jane Weber from the University of Guelph, and Beaudin Bennett from Laurentian University. “The Mandelbaum Fellowship recognizes graduate students who combine exceptional scholarship with deep engagement in their communities,” said Gyllie Phillips, […]
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 […]
With Budget 2017 arriving imminently, it is useful to revisit the provincial government forecasts for one of the principal variables in provincial funding for universities – the number of students. In the 2010 provincial budget, the Ontario government optimistically promised to add 40,000 new places for full-time university students by 2015. Because of a demographic […]
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 […]
