OUSA

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TORONTO, March 1 /CNW/ – Concerned that Ontario’s colleges and universities remain less accessible to a number of underrepresented groups, a coalition of student organizations representing over 2.5 million Ontario students have joined together for the first time to recommend the creation of a new access strategy. Students call on the province to replace the current patchwork of access initiatives with a holistic access strategy that would involve multiple government ministries and tackle all access barriers simultaneously.

The call is contained in a report released today entitled Breaking Barriers: A Strategy for Equal Access to Higher Education. Although Ontario has one of the highest post-secondary attainment rates, the report examines why thousands of low-income students, Aboriginal students, rural and northern students, students with dependants, and students whose parents did not attend higher education continue to be underrepresented in higher education, despite sincere efforts by government and post-secondary institutions to promote access.

“This government has demonstrated a commitment to improving access, and while some individual programs are making a difference, much more remains to be done,” said Meaghan Coker, President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). “With one voice, students are saying that we can and must do better.”

To reverse this trend, the report lays out the framework for a holistic access strategy through forty-two recommendations covering six focus areas:

• Expanding funding for community-based and institutional early outreach programs, such as Pathways to Education;
• Helping students move within and between educational pathways through continued improvement to the credit transfer system and the implementation of bridging programs;
• Better using the primary and secondary school system to guide and assist students in transitioning to higher education, for instance through an expansion of the successful dual credit program;
• Increasing distance and online learning opportunities, specifically through the forthcoming Ontario Online Institute;
• Improving the Ontario Student Assistance Program to provide more targeted, non-repayable grants, extend eligibility, and fix the broken need assessment formula; and
• Strengthening college and university support programs for students from underrepresented groups.

Because seven of every ten new jobs will require a higher education, Premier McGuinty recently set a provincial target of 70 per cent post-secondary attainment. Given the numerous economic and social benefits of a well-educated populous, students fully support the Premier’s target and stress that meeting this goal will require a concerted effort to close participation gaps.

Copies of the report are available here. The report is co-authored by OUSA and its partners at the College Student Alliance and the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association.

OUSA represents the interests of over 140,000 professional and undergraduate, full- and part-time university students at seven Ontario institutions.

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For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact Alvin Tedjo, OUSA Director of Communications & Public Relations, work: (416) 341-9948, cell: (647) 669-6885, email: communications@ousa.on.ca

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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

TORONTO, January 24 /OUSA/ – Today, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) released students’ priorities for the 2011 Ontario Budget in its submission entitled An Educated Investment: Advancing Post-Secondary Education. Meaghan Coker, President of OUSA, will present the submission this afternoon to Ontario’s Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs and participate in the Committee’s pre-Budget consultations. She will outline students’ three key priorities: ensuring access to higher education, adequately investing in our universities, and promoting student success.

Students’ first recommendation to improve accessibility is to fulfill the Liberal government’s platform commitment to reallocate funds spent on education tax credits to reduce students’ up-front costs. Other proposals include reducing the expected parental contributions of Ontario Student Loans to make more families eligible for aid, and extending the Ontario Access Grants to all years of undergraduate study.

For the government’s new five-year plan for post-secondary education, students recommend planning to meet the demand for growth, demonstrate progress toward a more fair cost sharing model, and invest in targeted quality improvements. Specific proposals to promote student success include pedagogy training for all new faculty and teaching assistants, the creation of Ontario Teaching Chairs, and a new matching program for enhancing student support services.

“The government showed its continued commitment to post-secondary education in last year’s Budget by providing $310 million for new spaces in colleges and universities and $81 million for enhancements to student financial assistance,” said Ms. Coker. “Students have welcomed these past investments and hope that Budget 2011 will continue building a more accessible and high-quality post-secondary education system.”

An Educated Investment: Advancing Post-Secondary Education – OUSA’s Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs (Click Image to View Online Version)
Click Here to Download

OUSA's 2011 Budget Submission

TORONTO, January 17 /OUSA/ – The Ontario government today announced important steps toward the creation of a credit transfer system in the province that will reduce the need for students to repeat courses at different institutions, saving them time and money. Over $70 million will be made available over five years to assist colleges and universities in developing more transfer opportunities and providing adequate information, advice and support to all transfer students.

Ontario students transfer between colleges and universities significantly less than in the rest of Canada, and more than one in five transfer students report repeating coursework. Many students also cite a lack of timely and accessible information and support to successfully transfer between institutions. The government’s new credit transfer system will make considerable progress on all of these fronts.

“The introduction of a credit transfer system will have a positive effect on both the accessibility and affordability of post-secondary education in Ontario,” said Meaghan Coker, president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). “After identifying the problem, I’m pleased to say the government worked collaboratively with students and with our colleges and universities to expand student mobility and improve the student experience.”

While the eventual goal of the credit transfer system is to promote the transfer of credits between all post-secondary institutions, efforts thus far have focused heavily on developing pathways between colleges and universities. With this announcement, undergraduate students look forward to now refocusing the discussion on how to simplify and promote the transfer of credits between universities.

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November was an exciting month for OUSA, beginning with our Fall General Assembly in St. Catharines hosted by the Brock University Students’ Union. After months of research and analysis, the hard work of our Steering Committee and Home Office Staff culminated in a weekend of debate and discussion with student representation from all of our member schools. At the end of the three days, we emerged with three approved policies including a revised plan on student financial assistance, an updated accessibility and early outreach strategy, and a whole set of recommendations on international students studying in Ontario.  OUSA’s General Assemblies’ always seek to provide the necessary forum for student engagement and dialogue; and I am exceedingly proud of the leadership that our students have shown in setting the direction for OUSA’s advocacy on these priorities.

Only a few weeks later, we held our annual Student Advocacy Conference in Toronto at Queen’s Park. For three days, our student leaders had over 70 meetings with Members of Provincial Parliament, cabinet ministers, political staff and members of the public service, with the purpose of spreading OUSA’s message on the importance of investing in post-secondary education (PSE) in Ontario. This conference provides the distinct opportunity for student representatives to meet with the provincial decision makers and present the concerns and challenges currently facing Ontario students. Our student delegates spent their time discussing the reallocation of Educational Tax Credit funding into other forms of needs-based financial assistance including the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). Students also stressed the necessity of additional enrolment space funding to accommodate the growth that Ontario’s system will experience over the next five years. Further, students presented strategies to improve teaching quality within our classrooms and recommendations on how the provincial government can offer a more holistic and comprehensive access strategy for groups currently underrepresented in our universities and colleges.

This week has ultimately proved to be successful in broadening the awareness and importance of investment in higher education. I want to thank all of those who met with OUSA over the past week for your time and continued support – the students of Ontario rely on your voices and decisions to enhance the accessibility, affordability, accountability and quality of PSE in the province.

Finally, I want to thank all of the student delegates from our seven member schools for your dedication at these conferences over the past month. Your efforts to advance the issues and advocacy for students across Ontario have made a difference.

-Meaghan Coker

Student leaders representing over 140,000 undergraduate students from across Ontario descended upon Queen’s Park where they met with over 70 MPPs and 20 Ministers last week to discuss the future of post-secondary education in Ontario. The meetings were arranged as part of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance’s annual student advocacy conference. Over three days of advocacy on behalf of Ontario’s undergraduate students, our student leaders discussed and debated issues of financial aid, funding, tuition, access and quality with MPPs from all three major parties.

With Ontario facing difficult budget constraints, OUSA’s recommendations focused on targeted investments that will have a large impact on the quality of education, students’ access to it, and students’ ability to pay for their education, without a tremendous hit to the government’s budget. Many Members were eager to back OUSA’s recommendations, commenting on the pragmatic and thoughtful nature of our proposed solutions.

“This was a very successful advocacy conference, having met with more ministers, MPPs, civil servants and stakeholders than ever before,” said Meaghan Coker, OUSA President. “Most importantly, legislators understand that investment in our institutions and students are essential and a necessity for the long-term prosperity of our province.”

Educated Solutions - Issue 7 (Fall 2010)

TORONTO, Nov 22. /OUSA/ – The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance has released its 7^th issue of Educated Solutions.  Educated Solutions is an annual student-focused magazine that is designed to provoke thought, discussion and dialogue about higher education in Ontario.

This issue was themed around student success and the quality post-secondary education. It features a foreword by Bob Rae, former Premier of Ontario, an article on the future of student success by McMaster University President Patrick Deane, and an article on bringing teach-oriented faculty into the mainstream by the authors of Academic Transformation.

Educated Solutions also features an OUSA year in review, campus updates, and the president’s message.  This issue was printed with mixed sources, approved by the Forestry Stewardship Council.

The magazine is available in hard-copy format from the OUSA office, or from your campus steering committee member or campus coordinator.  To receive a copy, please email communications@ousa.on.ca.  An online version is available via this website.  Click on the image of the magazine to be sent to an online reader.

TORONTO, Nov. 11 /OUSA/ – Nearly three-quarters of university professors surveyed believe research has a bigger payoff than teaching, according to a report to be released tomorrow by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) and available at www.heqco.ca. The report, entitled University Faculty Engagement in Teaching Development Activities, reaffirms the need for greater government and institutional leadership in promoting teaching and learning on Ontario’s campuses. While 95 per cent of professors at six Ontario universities indicated that teaching is important or very important to their professional practice, only 61 per cent believe that teaching is important or very important to their institution.

“Ontario’s professors clearly want to do more to enhance the quality of their teaching, but they are discouraged by a system that is driven by research dollars and institutional prestige rather than learning outcomes for students,” said Meaghan Coker, President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). “This report should be on the desk of anyone concerned about the quality of a post-secondary education in Ontario.”

In addition to a general lack of emphasis on teaching, the report identifies a number of common barriers professors face in improving their teaching techniques. These include an overemphasis on research funding, a lack of incentives for the scholarship of teaching and learning, a flawed expectation of how professors divide their time between research and teaching, an abrupt transition from graduate student to faculty positions with little or no support for learning how to teach, and a tendency to forget about the needs of sessional and contract lecturers.

To drive institutional change, students are asking that the provincial government provide additional funding for teaching and learning that would be conditional upon each institution:

• Requiring new professors and all graduate students to undergo formal instruction in teaching, learning, and assessment;
• Increasing the capacity of their Centre for Teaching and Learning;
• Offering at least one small class experience to all first-year students;
• Appointing a teaching and learning leader in each department; and
• Establishing a taskforce on teaching and learning to recommend improvements on how to reward and measure teaching quality.

OUSA also calls on the province to lead by example and to establish chairs in teaching, similar to the research chairs already in existence.

“With a multi-year quality plan for post-secondary education under development, students are hopeful that we will see this research translate into the leadership and direction necessary to bring about a shift in the institutional culture around teaching and learning,” added Coker.

TORONTO, November 9 /OUSA/ – Undergraduate students recognize the benefits associated with a greater internationalization of Ontario’s universities and are concerned by the increasingly divisive political atmosphere surrounding this issue.

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), representing nearly 6,000 international undergraduate students, firmly believes in the need to expand international enrolment, as these students add to the diversity of perspectives and experiences in the classroom, enhance the broader cultural diversity on campus, and contribute significantly to the economic prosperity of the province.

“International students are our classmates and our friends. They deserve to be treated fairly by our institutions and our government,” said OUSA President Meaghan Coker. “With all that these students bring to our universities and to our province, the conversation should be about what we must do to provide the supportive learning experience that they deserve.”

Undergraduate students would welcome further investment in the priorities of international students. OUSA is hopeful that the provincial government will:

· regulate international student tuition at a fair and predictable level

· provide incentives for universities to improve their international student support programs

· re-enrol international students under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP)

· expand the Opportunities Ontario program to assist students in gaining permanent residency status

With tuition fees increasing at an unsustainable rate, students agree that more needs to be done to improve the accessibility and affordability of higher education. OUSA has applauded recent improvements in financial assistance for domestic students and will continue to advocate for and support investment in all undergraduate students.

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance represents the interests of over 140,000 professional and undergraduate, full- and part-time university students at seven Ontario institutions.

TORONTO, Oct. 26 /OUSA/ – Undergraduate students are generally supportive of the government taking a more active role in transforming Ontario’s universities to better balance the system-wide demands for a high-quality and accessible learning environment with the capacity to undertake research. This reaction comes upon review of the report released today by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) calling for greater differentiation in the university sector. This transformation will have a significant impact on students, and great care must be taken to ensure that the impact is positive.

While students do not believe that government should unilaterally determine the mandates of Ontario’s universities, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) supports the use of multi-year accountability agreements to naturally differentiate universities through robust planning for future enrolment growth and institutional priorities, while tying performance to a portion of incremental funding.

“Students are hopeful that the process proposed by HEQCO will ensure a renewed emphasis on teaching and the student experience at our universities, while increasing sustainability, accountability and transparency,” said Meaghan Coker, OUSA President. “We anticipate that the government will follow HEQCO’s example and continue to undertake extensive consultations with students to ensure that these priorities are reflected in any future direction-setting.”

Students have also highlighted several concerns that they have with the process moving forward:

-Past negotiations of multi-year accountability agreements have excluded student input, and OUSA remains adamant that future agreements must include students and the broader campus community.

-In the absence of annual increases to base funding, universities often rely on growth to cover inflationary costs. A proposal in which all growth funding is tied to differentiation would not acknowledge the realities of increasing university costs.

-Increasing differentiation and diversity amongst institutions should not disrupt current progress toward fixing the broken credit transfer system.

-Metrics for university performance have been poorly designed in the past, and the importance of developing effective measurements that focus on student outcomes should not be overlooked.

-While students believe that these new incentives could allow some institutions to place their focus back on the undergraduate teaching mission, students insist that those universities that choose to focus on graduate expansion and research must not be absolved from the responsibility to provide a high-quality undergraduate experience.

Finally, students are concerned that many within the higher education sector view increased differentiation as the silver bullet that will solve the system’s challenges, ignoring concerns about cost inflation and alternative solutions such as transformation of the professoriate and adequate public investment in the valuable research and education missions of Ontario’s universities. Students applaud the government for its continued dedication to building an accessible, affordable, accountable and high-quality post-secondary education system, but stress that realizing this vision will require more leadership and resources than merely encouraging differentiation.

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance represents the interests of over 140,000 professional and undergraduate, full- and part-time university students at seven Ontario institutions.

Calling it “well-crafted and comprehensive,” the organization that represents the 24 publicly funded college libraries has expressed support for The Ontario Online Institute: Students’ Vision for Opening Ontario’s Classrooms, OUSA’s recent submission on the future of the Ontario Online Institute.

In a letter from Chair Joy Muller, the Heads of Libraries & Learning Resources (HLLR) endorsed OUSA’s position on the need for robust student supports for online learners, including full access to online library resources.

HLLR envisions the creation of a virtual library that would include licensed databases of journals, full-text e-books, and streamed media resources. It would also include online and telephone assistance, information literacy modules, reference management tools, and inter-library lending.

Ontario’s undergraduate students fully support HLLR’s proposal and share their hope that all critical supports will be in place to ensure that students of the Ontario Online Institute enjoy a successful educational experience.

Click here to read HLLR’s letter of support.

Click here for more on HLLR’s proposal for a virtual library.