Hi everyone!
I hope everyone’s school term has gotten off to a bright start! Sorry for the lack of August update– with the new school term beginning and the provincial legislature back in session, we have been very busy!
In August, OUSA organized its Best Practice Sharing Day at McMaster University. It led to some great discussions amongst each member’s executive teams and staff, and we all learned some helpful tips on how to implement effective strategies from each of our colleagues. This was followed, more recently, by Training Day at Trent University Durham, wherein OUSA’s home office staff provided exciting and informative training around research methods, effective policy writing, lobbying techniques, communications strategies, and more. We also got to hear the CEO of eCampus Ontario, David Porter, talk about the great work being done around Open Educational Resources across the province.
In recent weeks, we have visited students and administrators at our member campuses and met with government and opposition members at Queen’s Park. We highlighted our priorities for the year and have received positive responses across the board for our focus on improving mental health services and expanding open educational resources. This bodes well as we approach next summer’s election and aim to keep student issues front-of-mind for each party! We are also watching the release of the new OSAP, the forthcoming OHIP+ drug coverage for youth 24 and under, and the new sample lease for tenants of rental housing.
Meanwhile, OUSA’s Research & Policy Analysts have been engaging with students during campus visits to talk about issues facing Indigenous students and Mature students. These consultations are ongoing so if you’d like to share some of your experiences, feel free to reach out to Marc and Colin at [email protected].
OUSA also recently published its newest issue of Educated Solutions, bringing together multiple authors from across the sector to discuss the topic of Student Employment. It’s a great read and an electronic copy can be found here.
Looking ahead to October, we will be finishing our campus visit tour with Queen's University on Oct 4th and Laurentian University on Oct 16th. We’d love it if you stopped by for a chat! And, most importantly, OUSA’s fall General Assembly will be taking place at Wilfrid Laurier University the weekend of October 27th. If you’re interested in learning more or applying to be delegate, ask your student association for details.
That’s it for now, but much more still to come!
PSE out,
Andrew Clubine