The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario (CFSO) collectively commend the government’s interest in protecting sexual violence survivors. However, we raise concerns about elements of the newly announced Strengthening Post-secondary Institutions and Students Act, […]
On Tuesday, November 15, faculty and academic librarians from across the province gathered at the Ontario Legislature to meet with Members of Provincial Parliament to advocate for robust funding of public post-secondary institutions, better working conditions and support for contract faculty, the need for faculty renewal at Ontario universities, and for changes to Bill 26 that […]
OCUFA is pleased to announce that Tahmeed Shafiq and Jadine Ngan are the recipients of the 2022 Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education. Tahmeed and Jadine will be investigating the causes of student suicide and their impacts on campus and in the broader community. Their investigative research will take on a national scope. By consulting […]
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) has given the Ford government a failing grade for its election budget. After four years of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government undermining the foundations of public universities and allowing our postsecondary education system to languish behind every other province, this budget promises no improvement to university education quality, […]
TORONTO, April 25, 2022 – The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) is calling on university administrators across the province to maintain campus masking mandates until at least the end of August. With new COVID-19 cases reaching peaks surpassing previous waves of the pandemic and other health and safety measures having been lifted, masking […]
According to a new poll conducted for OCUFA by Ekos Research Associates, two out of three Ontarians (69 per cent) believe that the province’s next government should prioritize postsecondary education as it works to rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic. Those polled recognize the value of a university education and believe it is time to introduce […]
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations is pleased to see the Ontario Government extend the tuition fee freeze for domestic students into 2023. However, urgent funding is needed to support education quality and accessibility at Ontario’s public universities. “If the Ford government is serious about tackling student debt and high tuition fees, the upcoming […]
OCUFA is pleased to announce that we are now accepting nominations for the Teaching and Academic Librarians Awards and Equity and Social Justice Committee Award of Distinction. We are also accepting applications for the Henry Mandelbaum Graduate Fellowship and Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism. At OCUFA, we believe it is important to recognize […]
TORONTO, January, 13, 2022 – OCUFA is disappointed that the Superior Court of Justice has denied the Ontario Auditor General’s request for documents that Laurentian University claims are privileged. Laurentian’s sudden insolvency and unprecedented implosion as a result of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) process has devastated the Greater Sudbury community, raised concerns at […]
We are proud to announce the first article published as a result of the OCUFA Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism. The Fellowship is designed to support those wishing to pursue in-depth investigative reporting on higher education in Canada. With the backing of the Fellowship, respected journalist Nicholas Hune-Brown spent two years investigating the troubling world […]
TORONTO, August 17, 2021 — Ontario university faculty and academic librarians welcome the announcement from the provincial government that will require vaccination policies for high-risk settings, including postsecondary education institutions. OCUFA had previously called on the government to implement a required vaccination policy for universities as part of a safe return to campus strategy, along […]
The Ontario Universities and Colleges Coalition (OUCC), of which OCUFA is a member, has put out a statement strongly opposing the new provincial election spending rules outlined and enforced by Bill 307, Protecting Elections and Defending Democracy Act. With the use of the Notwithstanding Clause, the government has imposed Bill 307 despite a court decision […]
OCUFA President Sue Wurtele has written to Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities and Minister of Labour to express concern with the government’s plan for universities to fully reopen this fall. The plan was developed without consulting sector stakeholders, including faculty. As a result, it does not address some of the main concerns of those […]
There is more to Academic Matters than just the print issue. New articles are being added to the Academic Matters website every week. Here are some recent articles you might find interesting: Public money, private profit: A history of U of T’s MaRS Discovery District By Chelsea Tao and Mariana Valverde, University of Toronto “It is well known that the University of Toronto (U of T) has historically […]
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) has released a toolkit to support organizing for publicly funded, universal postsecondary education in Ontario. Developed through open public discussions at the OFL’s Education Assembly, the toolkit lays out the rationale for a postsecondary education system free of tuition fees, student debt, and institutional deficits. The OFL shows how this […]
