After years of encouraging ‘growth at all costs,’ the G&M recently reported that Ontario now wants some post-secondary institutions to change their focus — to teaching (!)
Ontario is overhauling the way it finances universities and colleges, replacing some per-student funding with performance-based support intended to discourage the emphasis on growth that many acknowledge has been detrimental to educational quality. Although still pushing expansion, the province is also pressing some schools to focus more on teaching than on aspiring to grow into elite comprehensive institutions.
The province will negotiate each school’s strategy individually, measuring success by examining factors such as student satisfaction, employment rates, and student mobility.
The goal is to have universities and colleges specialize more in their own strengths and core programs, spending more on excellence in teaching and the student experience on campus, while also providing as much choice and flexibility as possible in the style of learning available.
A representative of the province’s students said that funding should be targeted to specific areas. “If you want teachers to have better pedagogy, then fund training of pedagogy,” said Sam Andrey, executive director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. “Don’t increase budgets and hope for the best.”
Many schools, especially those in urban areas, will continue to expand. But for the first time in years, the government is also suggesting that some schools can decide not to grow, or even to shrink, without automatically seeing their funding stagnate.
Food for thought here at home, as Douglas strives to become the the largest and most progressive baccalaureate degree-granting college in British Columbia.
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