Research Reports

The Ontario government announced in 2005 that it would increase operating grants to colleges and universities $1.2 billion by 2009/10, both accomodating enrolment growth and increasing per-student funding. Soon after, the government announced a new tuition framework that allowed tuition fees to increase by an average of 5 per cent per year. As a result, university operating revenue has risen by over $3,000 per student since 2004/05. After adjusting for inflation, this represented a substantial new investment of nearly $2,000 for each student in Ontario‘s universities or an annual increase of 2.4 per cent beyond the general rate of inflation.

In early September 2011, OUSA and the College Student Alliance commissioned Abacus Data to conduct a public opinion survey of Ontarians over the age of 18 to gauge the public‟s attitudes towards post-secondary education. An election is a great time to survey the public because it is the one time when it is most engaged and most likely to be thinking about policy issues. With an election underway and school back in session, it was an excellent time to find out where the public is when it comes to PSE.

More than $6 billion is spent annually on operating Ontario’s universities, of which students contribute over $2.7 billion. With such a substantial public and private investment in higher education, it is of paramount importance that this money be well spent. Asking students – the principal stakeholder of Ontario universities – what they want from their education should be a primary component of this exercise.

This study seeks to first introduce the cost recovery model currently in place for both the university and college system in Canada and Ontario. Secondly, it provides a comparative summary of post-secondary cost recovery models utilized by a wide selection of other democratic countries with market economies. If the purpose of the study is to make sure Ontario is not missing the forest for the trees, so to speak, then the definitive conclusion of the report is that it is a big and complex forest out there. Through the in-depth examination of global systems, many very interesting patterns and models have emerged, and it is likely that the findings and implications outlined at the conclusion of this report are only the beginning of a longer discussion about how to continue to improve the post-secondary education system in Ontario for our students for years to come.

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance has long advocated for greater public investment in the province’s universities, to increase participation rates and the overall quality of education. There exists a large body of research that indicates both of these goals are extremely beneficial to Ontario’s economy and to the fight against poverty; however there is very little awareness of these benefits among the general public. This report will highlight the need for investment in universities and will provide a brief overview of the research in support of universities as drivers of economic growth. More specifically, we focus on the individual and societal benefits of a university-educated population, the importance of increasing quality in our institutions, and the local economic impact of Ontario’s universities.

This paper analyzes recent developments in e-learning technologies with a particular focus on the Canadian post-secondary education system. Using OUSA‟s four pillars of affordability, accessibility, accountability, and quality, e-learning technologies are analyzed for the potential benefit they may bring to the Canadian post-secondary education system as well as the effects existing technologies have already had. While a number of serious concerns persist, the conclusion is drawn that e-learning technologies, with the proper implementation, can provide great benefits to learners, institutions, and society at large. A number of e-learning enhancement strategies for institutions follow this analysis.

In response to a request from the OUSA General Assembly in Fall 2007 the OUSA research staff has undertaken the task of developing a research paper regarding Income Contingent Loan Repayment (ICLRP). In light of the particular intricacies of ICLRPs, the paper seeks to meet several objectives. Overall, it attempts to analyze if an ICLRP could be a viable alternative for loan repayment in Ontario. The paper, however, does take a multi-faceted approach, in order to deliver a holistic overview of the situation. 

A holistic and academically successful educational experience is intrinsically tied to all forms of the student experience; disorder in one area of this experience has the potential to send rippling effects disrupting all other areas. Off-campus living and the relation between students and municipal affairs is a crucial sphere for student associations to weigh in on, if nothing more than for the reason that one’s quality of living is paramount to one’s contribution to all other areas of life.