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Conference Report on OCUFA Conference – Financing Higher Education in the Current Economic Climate
22-23 January 2010, Toronto, ON
By Gary Spraakman, Professor, School of Administrative Studies
18 Feb 2010 - I attended the conference organized by OCUFA (Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations) on “Financing Higher Education in the Current Economic Climate” – which was held in Toronto on January 22 and 23, 2010 – with two purposes. First, as a faculty member I wanted to have a better understanding of the future revenue situation for York University. Second, as I do research on university budgeting, I wanted to obtain additional insights on the topic of university financing. Both purposes were accomplished, and more.
The conference was intended to reflect on the funding of universities now and in the future and to consider the implication for the university future. More specifically, the conference was designed to share relevant research findings as well as to present a variety of perspectives. There were about 100 attendees. They came mainly from Ontario and largely from universities. There were a few from outside of Ontario; they were generally invited speakers.
The day and a half workshop consisted of about one dozen speakers, who were faculty members, consultants to university administrators, a former university president, two non-academic economists, and a former Ontario deputy minister.
Our Paul Axelrod was the Friday keynote speaker. He discussed research on policy making in post-secondary education that he was undertaking with Richard Wellen and others. Paul’s plenary talk was very well received by the audience. I learned from him that effective post-secondary education policy at the federal and provincial levels requires vision, and that ideologies, policies, and people all matter. He gave the example of the federal government’s vision of a knowledge economy in the late 1990s, which created the Millennium Scholarships for students, CRC, CFI, etc. Due to current revenue shortcomings, the provincial government does not have a vision and for that and other reasons, the federal government is also currently without a vision for post-secondary education.
Numerous speakers talked about the smaller contribution of provincial governments in funding post-secondary education. We are fortunate that Ontario will have more university students, particularly in the GTA, from population growth and increased participation by the 18 to 24 year old age group in attending university. Students and their families appear to be willing to pay for a larger part of the costs. Poor but talented students will lose out; society will also lose by their omission from post-secondary education. There was little or no expectation for the government’s share to fall much more. Ontario is expected to remain the lowest among provinces or very near the low end of provincial per student grants to universities. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no expectation for the government to return to past relatively lofty funding levels. Endowment funds are required, but even they are problematic; in a down cycle endowments shrink and so do their contributions to operating budgets.
The trend to make universities more business like appears to be continuing, according to speakers. Measurement and accountability will continue to be demanded. This suggests, as one speaker noted, that we as faculty members must work to maintain the universities as special places of learning. We must make the best use of resources; one speaker and many attendees noted that the corporate offices of universities were becoming bloated. Speakers noted that universities must demonstrate how the students and research benefit from the monies provided by the provincial government. These benefits need to be planned and, subsequently, measured.
Good programming is crucial. We cannot do everything, but what we do must be the best. This could include collaboration. It clearly means innovation; the old ways are not adequate. Overhead must be reduced. We must communicate how we are different and how we contribute to educating students and research.
As you might have ascertained, I thoroughly benefited from the conference. OCUFA should be thanked for organizing a group of outstanding speakers to address a topic of crucial importance to faculty associations.
Other Delegate from this Conference: