The good old days of graduating with a degree and settling into a nice cozy job are long gone. Check out the link below and find out how Generation X has been pinned down by commodity fetish views which has lead to endless debt. In the end were left wondering “Dude, where’s my job?”
http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/01/14/dude-where%E2%80%99s-my-job/ <http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/01/14/dude-where%E2%80%99s-my-job/>
- Jasjeet Singh
University of Windsor Campus Coordinator
OCUFA Submission (CLICK TO VIEW)
Toronto, Dec 18/OCUFA/
Investing in Students, Ensuring Success: Recommendations for a meaningful successor to Reaching Higher
Executive Summary-
The Government of Ontario’s Reaching Higher plan was a visionary document that provided needed funding to Ontario’s postsecondary system. However, it was not sufficient to overcome the long history of university under-funding in Ontario. Its impact was also eroded by unanticipated increases in enrolment and the current economic downturn.
In its work to craft recommendations for a follow-up framework, the Postsecondary Education Secretariat must address this under-funding and its associated effects. OCUFA believes there are three areas of urgent concern in the university system:
• The student-to-faculty ratio is too high, damaging the quality of the student experience at Ontario universities;
• Educational facilities, libraries and information technology resources are in need of renewal in order to support a quality learning environment; and
• Tuition fee levels in Ontario require students to pay for more than their fair share of operating revenue, harming the accessibility of the university system.
Each of these challenges is best resolved through increased public funding. In particular, OCUFA recommends:
• The Government of Ontario invest an additional $153 million in 2010-11 to hire additional academic staff and renew campus learning infrastructure. This amount will increase to $765 million by 2014-15, rising by an additional $153 million per year during that period;
• The Government of Ontario freeze tuition fees at current levels; and
• Compensatory funding be provided to institutions for lost revenue from proposed tuition increases.
These investments will greatly improve the quality and accessibility of Ontario’s higher education system. In addition, OCUFA recommends that new Multi-Year Accountability Agreements be developed in consultation with faculty and students. These agreements should provide meaningful and comparable data that facilitates collaborative quality improvement.
-OCUFA
For more information, please contact:
Graeme Stewart
Communications and Government Relations Manager
416 979 2117 x232 | 647 280 3175 (mobile)
gstewart@ocufa.on.ca
Season's Greetings
Dec 18, 2009 – Well, the day has finally come…it is time to put a period at the end of the sentence that was OUSA 2009. As most of OUSA member schools, as well as the Home Office, prepare to shut down for a short time to take part in the festive season we can look back on 2009 with pride. 2009 saw the departure of former staffers, and the building of a new team. It was a great year for all OUSA areas. We created more research and policy work than we have in many years. We established new relationships with stakeholders who can help move OUSA’s vision of higher education forward. And we held a press conference and media events that raised the profile of the Alliance and its issues.
Without a doubt, 2010 is going to be even better! Once we have all rested and recovered from a very busy year, we’ll be prepared to hit the ground running!
So enjoy celebrating the season however you choose, and get ready for the best year for OUSA yet!
Happy Holidays!
-Home Office (Alexi, Paul, and Alvin)
As a way of focusing my posts for this site, I have been searching for an area where broad discussion is needed in Ontario. The more I thought about it the more it became clear that the area in need of the greatest illumination and discussion was university budgets and inflation. I chose this topic for two reasons. First, this is the big year for major components of University budgets. From inputs, there is the current negotiations around the post reaching higher plan being developed provincially, which also means a discussion around tuition fee levels in Ontario. On outputs, there are currently negotiations going on across Ontario related to the largest expenditure from the operating budget – salaries. In addition, OUSA is currently working on a paper related to university inflation, so this will give us a chance to discuss the research as it unfolds.
In the coming months, I will be narrowing my focus to a few key topics:
1) The makeup of a university budget (key income and expenditures)
2) University inflation
3) The return on a higher price tag for PSE (does paying more mean
getting more?)
For now, however, in the interest of spiking your interest further, I would like to direct your attention to Jeffrey Simpson’s article from
the Globe and Mail CLICK HERE. The article, while not focused on PSE, does a very good job of highlighting the difficult situation that the public sector is now facing (I should note that I don’t agree with everything stated, but it is a worthwhile read regardless).
-Justin Williams
THUNDER BAY, ON, Dec. 16 /CNW/ – On December 21, 2009 members of the Lakehead University Faculty Association (LUFA) will rally in Thunder Bay and Orillia to protest the closure of the university on December 21-24, 2009. Faculty and staff will not be paid during this forced closure, in direct violation of their collective agreements.
This move by Lakehead administration will harm research and damage the reputation of the university. Employees should not be made to suffer because administrators are unable to manage university finances.
The schedule of the day is as follows:
Thunder Bay Campus
- 9:00AM: Participants gather at the Oliver Road Community Centre
(563 Oliver Road)
- 9:30AM: March to Lakehead Campus begins
- 10AM: Rally and speeches on Lakehead campus.
- 11:30AM: Event ends
Orillia Campus
- 9:45AM: Participants gather at the Heritage Place, at the corner of
Colborne and West
- 10:00AM: Speeches
Representatives from LUFA will be available for interviews at both locations.
-30-
For further information: or to arrange an interview, contact Joey Farrell at (807) 346-7754 (office)/(807) 624-6923 (mobile) or joey.farrell@lakeheadu.ca; or Graeme Stewart at (416) 979-2117 x232 (office)/(647) 280-3175 (mobile) or gstewart@ocufa.on.ca
Last week the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) released Reaching Even Higher, its submission to the government on the next multi-year funding plan.
The document is short and straight to the point, outlining three key recommendations:
1. Multi-Year Accountability Agreements (MYAAs) should be more strategic and should be based on each institution’s mission, strengths and regional needs, as well as provincial goals.
2. Total base operating revenue should increase at least to cover the cost of growth and cost inflation
3. Base funding should be further increased to allow for new investment quality, specifically retention and graduation rates, student experience and engagement, and teaching and learning outcomes.
On the first point, OUSA agrees that MYAAs should be more strategic and should be considered of much greater importance in the Ministry and at our institutions. The submission suggests that the next round of agreements be negotiated between the Executive Heads and the Minister or Deputy Minister, thus allowing more flexibility and responsiveness to local, regional and provincial goals. I agree, not only for the reasons cited by the COU, but because this would ensure greater student, faculty and community input into the negotiations. By raising the profile of the MYAAs and linking them to each university’s strategic plans, we can ensure a thorough and public discussion of accountability will take place.
On the second point, the COU estimates that an average investment of $200 million a year over the next five years will cover growth and cost inflation, assuming the tuition framework remains the same. But because students are already paying much more than their fair share of operating costs, tuition increases should be capped at no more than CPI and the government should provide the lion’s share of new revenue. There is no doubt that our universities desperately need this money, but students are paying enough.
Once growth and inflation have been dealt with, the COU suggests additional funds should be provided to improve the quality of our institutions, and I couldn’t agree more. While the Reaching Higher plan was a tremendous investment, it did not translate into the quality improvements that were envisioned. I was especially pleased to see that the COU’s list of proposed quality improvements include many of the student success issues OUSA has been championing, including expanded academic support services, increased student-faculty interaction, and support to improve teaching practices.
Overall, I found the submission presents a clear vision for a new investment in our universities. First, the “cost to continue” must be supplied not from tuition but from government funding. Second, the government must provide additional funds to cover much-needed quality improvements. And third, an enhanced MYAA system will ensure greater flexibility for institutions and greater accountability for students.
-Dan Moulton
TORONTO, Dec. 15 /CNW/ – As talks between the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the College Compensation & Appointments Council (the Council) continue this week, Ontario’s college students are taking a stand, says the College Student Alliance (CSA). Students are telling both sides that, “Students are NOT bargaining chips!”
“Students are concerned with the fact that, yet again, there is a threat of a province-wide faculty strike looming over their education,” says Justin Fox, President of the College Student Alliance. “Students do not want a repeat of the 21 day strike of 2006, which nearly cost many their semester and graduation.”
OPSEU and the Council began collectively bargaining back in early June of this year. After some six and a half months, including an imposed month-long recess, both sides managed to not reach agreement on a new collective agreement. Although on November 18th the Council imposed a set of new terms and conditions, which were applied retroactively to September 1st.
“Given the current state of the economy and the demand for college and skilled trades training; it is our hope that both sides will find a way to reach a new collective agreement before the end of the year,” adds Fox. “But with OPSEU’s strike vote scheduled for Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 that looks unlikely.”
In an effort to speak directly to college presidents and members of the academic bargaining unit, the CSA and its member councils have distributed postcard letters expressing the concerns felt by students over the lack of a new collective agreement and the potential of another province-wide strike.
The College Student Alliance (CSA) is an advocacy and services organization which has been proudly serving Ontario’s college and college/university students since 1967. The CSA currently represents 16 colleges and 24 student councils with over 120,000 full-time student members throughout the province.
/NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: A photo accompanying this release is available at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to accredited members of the media/
-30-
For further information: Tyler Charlebois, Director of Advocacy, College Student Alliance, (416) 340-1212, (416) 346-9951, advocacy@collegestudentalliance.ca; Justin Fox, President, College Student Alliance, (519) 972-2727 ext. 4524, (519) 566-7211, president@collegestudentalliance.ca
There is one sound that always reminds me of the holiday season. No it*s not the sound of carolers, nor is it the sound of bells. It’s not the sound of holiday jingles, nor is it the sound of last minute shoppers searching for last minutes sales. The sound that reminds me most of our holiday joys, is the sound of pencils scurrying and the sweet silence of studying by all university girls and boys.
For two weeks our students do everything in their power to ignore the festive season in favour of focusing on their exams ahead. While others attend Christmas pageants, shop for presents, visit Santa, eat candy canes, and meet friends, the university student skulks up to the seventh floor of the library with a bag full of books.
It is at this time of year that students struggle to find study space on campus. As every student is trying their best to seclude them self to a quiet corner on campus to study, we discover every exam season that there are not enough corners to go around. For our students to succeed in the face of all of the distractions of the holiday season, we need to ensure that our universities provide adequate space for socializing, studying, and learning.
Holiday Gift Idea For A Student:
- gift certificate to the campus bookstore
- snuggie
- clip on reading light
- laundry detergent
-Kory Preston
Shhhh….listen. Can you hear that? No? That’s because it’s perfectly quiet.
It’s that time of year again…the legislature has risen here in Toronto, exams have started on most of our campuses, and the news cycles have become horribly repetitive. We are quickly approaching the holiday break for everyone, including OUSA Home Office which means that the phones have stopped ringing and we are doing a lot of year end wrap up. Making sure the website is up to date, sending out final research packs for people writing policies for spring GA and doing last minute follow-up for MPP requests from our recent lobby conference.
With one week left in the 2009 year of OUSA I can say, with out a doubt, that it has been a banner year. All that’s left to do now is set our sights even higher for 2010.
Oh…and to all my Jewish friends, Happy Chanukah! May your night be filled with candle and latkes, family and friends!
-Paul Bien
At the last General Assembly, OUSA passed a policy paper on the importance of supporting the broader learning environment on Ontario campuses. This broader learning environment is supported by key student services that help students navigate the rigors of academic life. These services include everything from mental health and counseling centres to writing clinics. Unfortunately, these services are the first to be hit with cuts when universities face difficult financial decisions. We recently learned that McMaster’s core Basic Instructional Unit (BIU) funding from the government might be cut this year, which would force the institution to look for areas to save money. It is of vital importance that these kinds of services be prioritized. We’ll be working hard to lobby our administration on maintaining support for these key services, and since many of our schools are in the same boat, I encourage you to do the same.
-Chris Martin
