Who drives innovation in Canada and Ontario? When it comes to research and development, higher education – fuelled by public dollars – leads the way. According to Statistics Canada, the number of people engaged in research and development (R&D) in Canada rose by almost 67,000 between 2000 and 2009. Ontario accounted for 27,000 of those added positions. During the same period, the […]
ontario
As it goes with student-faculty ratios at Ontario universities, so it goes with class sizes. As the number of students relative to the number of faculty increases, class sizes get bigger. This has serious implications for the quality of higher education in our province – larger classes mean less student interaction with faculty, a key […]
The nomination deadline for the 2012 OCUFA Teaching and Academic Librarianship Awards is May 21, 2012. Since 1973, these awards have recognized individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the quality of university education in Ontario, either through exceptional teaching or dedicated library service. Any member of an OCUFA-affiliated faculty association is eligible […]
Since the mid-1990s, Ontario has had the worst student-to-faculty ratio in Canada. While the number of students per full-time faculty member in other provinces hovered around 20-1, the Ontario ratio rose from 22-1 in the fall of 2000 to 27-1 by 2005-06 as the “double cohort” entered the university system. A slight improvement occurred […]
The 2012 Ontario Budget essentially took a ‘wait and see’ approach on funding for research and development. After abruptly cancelling three rounds of funding under the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) Research Excellence program late last year, there is no immediate prospect of further cuts. But there will be no new funding to keep pace with either inflation or […]
Writing in the Toronto Star , Michael Mendelsohn of the Caledon Institute for Social Policy observes that the relative size of Ontario’s deficit is not because of spending. In 2009-10, the Ontario government spent the lowest amount of any province per capita – $9,030, seven per cent less than ninth place British Columbia. He cites the Drummond report and points out that 39 per cent […]
By almost any measure, provincial public funding for Ontario universities has lagged behind every other province for nearly two decades. Reckoned in terms of inflation-adjusted per student funding, provincial support bottomed out in 2002-03, rose again for a few years, and has been falling again since 2008-09. Operating expenditures follow a similar pattern. Over […]
Lost in the media glare around Don Drummond’s message of expenditure restraint delivered by was the other side of the equation – government revenues. Drummond’s mandate excluded consideration of tax policy, which is highly problematic by itself. But his revenue forecast left some commentators downright perplexed. USW economist Erin Weir recently drew attention to the Drummond […]
After last week, you’d be forgiven for being a little lost on what tuition policy looks like in Ontario. On Thursday, March 8, 2012, it was reported that Ontario would be moving to standardized tuition fees , set by the Government of Ontario. This new fee structure would require some universities to raise their fees, potentially hurting students. Other […]
Ontario leads the world in terms of postsecondary attainment. But as the data shows, this has more to do with college attendance than university access. Statistics Canada reports that half of Canadians between the ages of 25 and 64 have a college or university education. In Ontario, 56 per cent have attained a postsecondary credential. The average […]
University enrolments continue to increase in Canada. If community colleges that recently were given university status and denominational institutions are included, the total number of students attending universities outside Ontario went up by five per cent between 2010 and 2011 reports the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada . The number of students at older publicly funded universities rose by almost three per […]
In late December 2011, the Government of Ontario terminated Rounds Six and Seven of the Ontario Research Fund Research Excellence Program (ORF-RE), as well as the termination of the special round for the social sciences, arts, and humanities. OCUFA believes strongly that these cancellations will harm the quality and quantity of research and innovation produced […]
Soaring enrolments mean that more teaching has to be done at Ontario’s universities, but it cannot be done on the cheap, OCUFA Vice-President Kate Lawson told a conference at McMaster University, December 8. Government underfunding has meant constrained finances for Ontario universities, she said, and that context makes a discussion around the expansion of […]
As more high school graduates opt for college or university education, Ontario’s attainment rate for higher education has risen from 44 per cent in 1999 to a 56 per cent in 2009, in the context of government forecasts that 70 per cent of jobs in the knowledge economy will require a postsecondary credential. In 2009, […]
They say no news is good news. But where this week’s Throne Speech and Economic Update is concerned, no news is just no news. Tuesday’s Throne speech reiterated the Liberal Government’s higher education campaign pledges – 60,000 new student places at colleges and universities, three new ‘undergraduate campuses’ and a tuition rebate. We have some […]