OUSA Publishes Results of the 2020 Ontario Undergraduate Student Survey with Student Data on the Quality of Post-Secondary Education
TORONTO, ON – The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) is excited to announce the release of the final report sharing the results of its biennial Ontario Undergraduate Student Survey (OUSS), previously known as the Ontario Post-Secondary Student Survey. The OUSS received over 5,500 undergraduate and professional student responses across OUSA’s eight member schools. The reports cover the accessibility, affordability, and quality of post-secondary education in Ontario and are based on the results of the 2020 OUSS.
This third report, Quality: Results from the 2020 Ontario Undergraduate Student Survey, explores the various components that contribute to the quality of post-secondary education in Ontario including course content, classroom and learning environments, online and work-integrated learning, international student experiences, civic engagement, and support services. This report highlights the areas of post-secondary that are meeting student expectations in quality, but also those that urgently need improvement.
“The quality of post-secondary education and its related experiences are key to the participation and retention of students, which was made especially clear over the past two years,” said Malika Dhanani and Shemar Hackett, OUSA Research & Policy Analysts and authors. “As students look to redeem the more enjoyable aspects of their education and transition into the workforce, it is important that post-secondary offers high quality support not only in academic spaces, but also in external resources.”
Obtaining an undergraduate degree is often a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and thus, students deserve a comprehensively enjoyable, high quality education both inside and outside the classroom. Our report reveals that while several initiatives have potential for a rewarding post-secondary education, students feel the standard of quality in these areas is not up to par. Marginalized students are more likely to face and be harmed by discrimination in the classroom, and generally, students are not satisfied with online learning and their on-campus mental health services. Given that post-secondary quality is influenced by several stakeholders, it is critical that sector partners work collaboratively to ensure the provision of post-secondary education, in all its spheres, is holistically preparing and supporting students.
The OUSS gives voice to student concerns and provides student-centred perspectives to inform systemic change efforts. The current report completes the three-part series disseminating 2020 OUSS data, and we encourage readers to review our first two reports on Affordability and Accessibility. OUSA will continue to collect and use this data to inform our policy and advocacy efforts and we hope all post-secondary stakeholders will look to the OUSS and other similar data to better understand student needs.
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OUSA represents the interests of 150,000 professional and undergraduate, full-time and part-time university students at eight student associations across Ontario. Our vision is for an accessible, affordable, accountable, and high quality post-secondary education in Ontario.
Irum Chorghay
Operations & Communications Coordinator
Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance