On Friday and Saturday last week, delegates from OUSA attended a conference entitled “Financing Higher Education in the Current Economic Climate,” hosted by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). The conference brought together academics, economists, bureaucrats, administrators and students to discuss and reflect on how we fund universities in Ontario, both now and in the future.
While I was only able to attend Friday’s events, I found the presentations insightful, especially the two panel discussions. The first, entitled “The public funding of higher education: Is it sustainable?” saw panelists who support both sides of the question. It was argued on the one hand that the Ontario government under-invests in universities in comparison to peer jurisdictions in Canada and the United States and that the system would be sustainable with increased funding. The argument was supported by statistics showing Ontario currently spends 0.9% of GDP on universities versus 1.2% across Canada and provincial grants make up 37% of operating budgets versus the Canadian average of 52%. Finally, since 1990, funding for post-secondary education has dropped from 6% of Ontario’s budget to only 4.7%.
Conversely, it was argued that unless universities change the way they spend their money, simply providing more funds wouldn’t make the system sustainable. Instead we must challenge the dominant corporate vision of our universities by, among other things, reducing the amount spent on competition for students and research dollars and using local talent rather than external contractors.
The second panel discussion was on the role of tuition and endowments in funding higher education. Economist Hugh Mackenzie did a great job telling the story of how, over the last 20 years, tuition fees have displaced more and more provincial funding as a source of university revenue. Meanwhile, federal funding has actually increased over this time. He also did a great job refuting Bob Rae’s assertion that lowering tuition would be a net transfer of funds from rich students to poor students.
Overall the conference was informative and we look forward to the published proceedings which will be made available by OCUFA later this year.
Alexi White
Executive Director
