Nine months ago, in OUSA’s submission to the special secretariat charged with developing a new long-term plan for post-secondary education in Ontario, students predicted that support services would feel the brunt of the impending budget cuts, warning that these programs “often lack the adequate and reliable funding needed to sustain them year after year, especially when universities are tightening their belts.”
Last week, I was saddened to see our prediction become reality at my own university. As part of an effort to cut $27.5 million in expenses, the University of Windsor fired three staff in our Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), bringing the total number of staff layoffs to five.
The CTL is a vital part of my university. The centre works tirelessly to provide professional development for faculty, to promote innovation in teaching, to celebrate those who excel in this field, and, more generally, to enhance learning for everyone at the University of Windsor. Moreover, with teaching already taking a back seat to research at universities across Ontario, these Centres are absolutely critical to reversing this trend. While recognizing the extreme financial pressure that my university administration is under, recent events seem to indicate that my own institution is not placing enough emphasis on a high-quality learning environment for its students.
That said, the root of our budget woes can be traced back to insufficient funding from the provincial government for these support services. While millions in new operating grants have been added to the system, this money has not kept pace with increasing enrollments and inflationary pressures. Ontario still ranks near the bottom in per-student funding and right at the top in tuition fees.
Equally frustrating is the government’s hesitation to direct funding to where students need it. Decades of research indicate that the passive lecture style of teaching is inferior to the active and collaborative learning pedagogies that our CTL works to promote. Again, OUSA recommended nine months ago that funding be “designated by the provincial government to found and maintain instructional support programs to encourage innovation in teaching and provide ongoing professional development for Ontario’s post-secondary educators.” Beyond support for teaching, OUSA has recommended that many student services require dedicated funding, including personal and academic counselling, child care, aboriginal resources, international student services, and career support.
Students will continue to recommend that funding be designated to specific support services to ensure that these vital resources are protected and strengthened. The question is what state will these services be in when the funding arrives?
Robert Woodrich
UWSA VP University Affairs
