One of the key indicators of student success is access to, and engagement with, skilled faculty. Unfortunately, under-funding is making it harder for Ontario’s students to connect with their instructors.

Ontario’s students universities receive 35 per cent less funding than they did in the 1970s. Per-student funding in Ontario lags behind peer jurisdictions in Canada and the United States by 25 per cent. Clearly, our universities aren’t getting the public funding they need to thrive and compete on a global scale.

A major consequence of this under-funding is a lack of full-time faculty. Universities are coping with shrinking budgets by bringing in low-paid, short-term-contract workers.

While these contract teachers are dedicated educators, they often have to teach new courses at different institutions every year, which they often don’t even find out about until the last minute. That leaves them scrambling and doesn’t allow them the in-depth preparation enjoyed by a full-time professor. It is also harder for these contract faculty to conduct intensive research that benefits students, universities, and the province of Ontario.

The Government of Ontario has made expanding graduate education a priority. But grad students need access to senior scholars to become the researchers and innovators of tomorrow. Between a growing undergraduate population and a shrinking supply of tenured faculty, there aren’t enough professors to go around. 

• The Government of Ontario must make the hiring a new faculty a priority
• The Government of Ontario must invest and additional $1 billion a year in university operating grants. This will allow universities to hire more full-time faculty and make needed improvements to educational quality.

TAKE ACTION 

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