Toronto, Nov. 22, 2019 – Ontario faculty are pleased to see that the Ontario Divisional Court has struck down the Ford government’s controversial “Student Choice Initiative” (SCI), finding the directive both unlawful and a violation of university autonomy. The Court found that Ford’s Cabinet and the then Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities overstepped their […]
On November 6, faculty from across the province gathered at Queen’s Park to advocate for stronger public funding for postsecondary education, fairness for contract faculty, faculty renewal, and against Bill 124. The annual OCUFA Advocacy Day provided an opportunity for faculty to meet with their local Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and brief them about […]
The latest issue of Academic Matters considers the economic and equity impacts of how university funding is allocated. How does this affect students, faculty, and staff at Ontario’s postsecondary institutions? Read the issue for free online. Editorial Matters: Economics and inequality By Ben Lewis, Editor-in-Chief “It is commonly understood that postsecondary education ought to focus on fostering curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, and vigorous debate, with the […]
On Saturday, October 19 and Sunday, October 20, OCUFA held its first Board of Directors meeting of the 2019-20 academic year. The weekend oriented new board members to OCUFA and allowed members to discuss the implications of the Ford government’s attacks on public postsecondary education in Ontario. During the meeting, there were special presentations on […]
Ontario’s university faculty and academic librarians stand in solidarity with the 55,000 Ontario elementary and high school education workers as they prepare for legal strike action on Monday, October 7th. Members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), these workers provide essential services that support the education of our children and maintain a clean […]
On Wednesday, September 18, OCUFA President Rahul Sapra wrote to Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey to urge him to reverse the cuts to Legal Aid Ontario and to commit to protecting legal aid funding moving forward. Legal Aid Ontario provides essential services for the most vulnerable in our province, such as injured workers, survivors of […]
OCUFA is concerned that the Conservative Party and Andrew Scheer are trying to score cheap political points by taking a page from Doug Ford’s playbook and attempting to manufacture a campus free speech crisis. The Conservative Party’s materials, distributed on a number of campuses over the past week, misrepresent the nature of speech at Canadian […]
OCUFA cautiously welcomes news that the provincial and federal governments have reached a memorandum of understanding in which they both recognize the importance of meeting the postsecondary needs of Ontario’s growing Francophone population. In the 2018 Ontario election, Doug Ford promised to move forward with the Université de l’Ontario français – a project set into […]
Announced in the Ontario Budget , the Ford government’s reckless new market-based approach to funding postsecondary education will fundamentally compromise the integrity of Ontario’s higher education system. This alarming shift in education funding will create greater inequity, hurt students, and threaten the quality of education in our province. The proposed market-based performance funding model will […]
In April 2019, as part of its first budget, the Ontario government introduced an alarming change to the funding model of public universities and colleges in the province. By 2024-25, this new approach will tie 60 per cent (over $3 billion dollars) of funding for postsecondary institutions to “outcomes” or “performance” measures. Institutions’ so-called “performance” […]
Announced in the Ontario Budget , the Ford government’s reckless new market-based approach to funding postsecondary education will fundamentally compromise the integrity of Ontario’s higher education system. This alarming shift in education funding will create greater inequity, hurt students, and threaten the quality of education in our province. The proposed market-based performance funding model will […]
Toronto, Sep. 4, 2019 – Ontario faculty are warning that the Ford government’s so called “performance” funding model for postsecondary education is reckless, ineffective, and dangerous. The new funding model will link 60 per cent of government funding for universities ($2.2 billion dollars) to an arbitrary set of metrics chosen with no consultation. These metrics […]
TORONTO – The senior leadership of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) today announced that it was resigning, including President Harvey Weingarten. HEQCO has been the chief advisor to the Ford government on a number of controversial initiatives, including an attack on Ontario faculty over the age of 65. Since its inception HEQCO’s […]
The 2019 Worldviews on Media and Higher Education Conference brought together hundreds of academics, students, higher education leaders, communications professionals, and journalists from around the globe to explore the conference’s theme: Democracy at risk? Reflecting on the future of higher education and media in a “post-truth” world. Proceedings kicked off with a special screening of […]
The Ford government introduced sweeping legislation to cap public sector wage increases. The proposed legislation represents an attack on the right to free and fair collective bargaining, and is in line with the government’s broader anti-worker agenda. The legislation was introduced on June 5, and although the legislature has now risen until October 28, the bill […]
