Blog

Interested in writing for OUSA? Contact Tiffany Li Wu, our Operations & Communications Coordinator.

Recapping OUSA's 56th General Assembly... In-Person!

Written by on November 09, 2022

Twice a year, student leaders and delegates join OUSA in a weekend-long conference (known as General Assembly aka GA) that aims to discuss, refine, debate, and approve our policy papers on a variety of post-secondary issues. Over the past 2 years, OUSA has held 5 GAs online and while the discussions were just as riveting virtually, we were itching to get back in-person. Well, over this past Hallo-weekend, OUSA finally made the long-awaited return to an in-person GA, hosted by our friends at the Students’ General Association (SGA) at Laurentian University, in the beautiful city of Sudbury!

 

Believe in Your Student Voice - Eddy’s Farewell Blog

Written by on November 04, 2022

Today is my last day working as the Executive Director at the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance or OUSA for short - a clarification that has become a permanent addition to my introduction after 4 years of working for this amazing organization. I have a lot of thoughts, memories, and thanks I want to share, but I’ll try to keep it (somewhat) brief.

I want to take this opportunity to highlight two messages:

  1. Student voices are important & should be the guiding force behind all student advocacy
  2. @ students - You can do this. Your voice should be taken seriously and you are well-positioned to speak on student issues.

Hidden Fees, Assignments, and the Planned Destruction of Affordable Textbooks

Written by on October 19, 2022

There’s a special question that university students ask at the start of each semester. A question whose answer, if you’re lucky, will be a resounding “no”: 

 

“Is the textbook really required?”

 

Textbook publishers have worked hard to make sure the answer is always a “yes.” Digital Learning Resources (DLRs) are here, and they bring unaffordable textbooks, inaccessible methods of evaluation, and an inherently inequitable learning environment along with them. How did we get here, what is a DLR, and what can be done to address their impact on post-secondary education? 

 

Presidential Update October 2022

Written by on October 13, 2022

Hellooo October! Hope everyone’s first month back to school has been absolutely swell! It’s an eventful time of year, and OUSA’s certainly getting into the thick of things.

 

Presidential Update September 2022

Written by on September 08, 2022

September = welcome back to campus! I hope you all had fantastic summers and are well-rested as we dive into the school year. 

In Case You Missed It: OUSA Drops “RGB: Issues in Ontario’s PSE,” A Photo Series

Written by on August 05, 2022

Happy Friday, everyone!

In case you missed it, let’s catch you up! Just last week, Vivian Chiem, our Communications and Advocacy Intern launched her capstone project, RGB: Issues in Ontario’s Post Secondary Education! RGB is a colour-coded photo series that aims to bring attention to ongoing issues that university students face in Ontario in the areas of sexual and gender based violence, affordability and mental health. The project draws from OUSA’s student survey, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Survey (OUSS), as well as OUSA’s own policy library.

Presidential Update August 2022

Written by on August 03, 2022

Happy August everyone, hope you’ve had an amazing summer so far!

 

It’s hard to believe that we’re at the tail end of summer already, but we’ve been working hard the last few months to prepare for the year, and we can’t wait to welcome students back to campus! July was filled with a lot of behind-the-scenes work here at OUSA, including determining our advocacy priorities and related policy recommendations as well as getting our working groups started for the year. On the policy paper side of things, our Steering Committee members, student authors, and Research & Policy Analysts have been hard at work during think tanks, focus groups, and student consultations. Once again, we look forward to engaging with students and hearing about what’s important to you!