Yesterday, the Ministry of Training, Colleges & Universities (MTCU) released a document proposing that Ontario’s post-secondary education sector begin a series of conversations on how to promote efficiency and innovation at universities and colleges in Ontario. The document, entitled Strengthening Ontario’s Centres of Creativity, Innovation and Knowledge proposes a series of roundtable discussions on innovation, quality and productivity. In addition, the MTCU discussion paper highlights strategies that could be utilized to achieve these goals, such as a wider range of credential options and technology-enabled learning.
OUSA is pleased with the initiative taken by the Ministry to stimulate the conversation around productivity in higher education and students are excited to actively participate. From a student perspective, issues relating to teaching quality, credit transfer and online education are particularly crucial. The document invites discussion on all of these areas. Additionally, the document suggests that a conversation should be had on how innovation and productivity could impact the future of tuition in Ontario. OUSA looks forward to putting forward our values and provoking discussion on both the public and private benefits of post-secondary education.
Undoubtedly, ideas that arise during the consultation process will come with a great deal of complexity. With so many stakeholders directly impacted by such a significant shift in the sector, OUSA recognizes the responsibility to discuss the ideas holistically. Transformation can increase student flexibility, improve quality of education and render post-secondary education much more customizable to student needs. However, it can also carry hidden costs and drawbacks, which students will ultimately have to bear.
OUSA is looking forward to exploring this complexity with the government to negotiate fair and reasonable options for Ontario students and intends to release an official response to the Ministry’s paper in the coming weeks. A more productive, innovative and efficient university sector will help higher education be a more viable investment for both students and government.
Alysha Li
President, Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance
06.29.12 at 1:37 pm
Jordan Coop
Is it just me, or do these proposed conversations sound more business-oriented than educational? What exactly does this “transformation” entail, anyway?
The terms “productivity,” “efficiency,” “quality,” and “innovation” are not only highly ambiguous and vague ideals to which to aspire, but they also reek of that insidious market rhetoric that has come to plague pedagogical discourse. I mean, how does one make education more efficient or productive? Higher tuition? More “employable” degrees? More technology?
I fear that these goals – if achieved – will only further subsume our public universities into corporate logic. After all, the proposed “transformation” fits nicely within the neoliberal model of post-secondary education. The closing sentence is a case in point:
“A more productive, innovative and efficient university sector will help higher education be a more viable investment for both students and government.”
According to this logic, education is only valuable insofar as it is a future investment off of which we will hopefully profit – a gross misinterpretation of the holistic, critical, and valuable learning experience it was once intended to be.
I, for one, think we need to seriously reevaluate the trajectory of our educational institutions, before they become nothing but job-training factories that churn out passive employees for multinational corporations.