Archive for the ‘Education Debates’ Category

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OCUFA: As Laurentian’s funding crisis continues, Ministry of Colleges and Universities refuses to take action

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021

… at a meeting with OCUFA, Ministry representatives said the government intends to wait until after the university has been dramatically restructured through the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act(CCAA) to determine its next steps… “For years we have been warning about the government’s chronic underfunding of Ontario’s universities and the negative impact it would have on students and education quality,” said Rahul Sapra, President of OCUFA.

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The ugly side of performance-based funding for universities

Monday, February 22nd, 2021

Universities are much more than entrepreneurial training centres to be rewarded for performing short-sighted corporate-styled research and worker development. With that mandate, they cease to be universities in any sense of the word. To create a future where we can all thrive, our citizens need to not only have the skills to prosper today, but be capable of imagining and implementing a better tomorrow.

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OCUFA condemns the Ford government for granting McVety’s Canada Christian College university-status

Tuesday, January 12th, 2021

“Granting Canada Christian College university status and the ability to offer Bachelor of Arts and Science degrees sends Ontarians exactly the wrong message about education, religious diversity, and multiculturalism,” said David Seljak. “It tells the people of Ontario that it is perfectly acceptable to publicly promote extremist views that target minority populations.”

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Universities shouldn’t abandon online learning after the pandemic

Monday, December 28th, 2020

The immediate value in terms of containing disease spread is obvious, but in normal times, the potential benefits can be immense also. Students can have more flexibility over how and where they learn. Online learning can reduce or eliminate the need to travel or live close to campus, saving students time and money. For universities, it offers the prospects of lower operational and maintenance costs, allowing them to invest more in high-value interactions that tend to occur in more intimate groups.

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Future health of Ontario universities uncertain as government refuses to change course on funding

Thursday, November 12th, 2020

… the Ford government continues to erode university funding and refuses to change course on their reckless performance-based funding scheme. Instead, the 2020 Ontario Budget promises to squander $60 million dollars on ineffective micro-credentials, which are a solution in search of a problem… the government should be actively consulting university faculty and academic librarians to chart a path forward that builds on our strengths, supports students, and effectively contributes to Ontario’s economic recovery…

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Future health of Ontario universities uncertain as government refuses to change course on funding

Friday, November 6th, 2020

… the 2020 Ontario Budget promises to squander $60 million dollars on ineffective micro-credentials, which are a solution in search of a problem. With ongoing attempts to further privatize the province’s postsecondary education system by awarding university status to controversial private colleges like the Canada Christian College, this government’s proposals represent a real threat to the quality, integrity, and effectiveness of the province’s universities.

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Online classes will impoverish the university experience for students

Tuesday, August 25th, 2020

Students come to university because they want to change: to become something or someone they are not yet. This transformation involves looking at the world in a new way and interacting with people who have a variety of world views and experiences. This is so much harder to accomplish virtually than face-to-face. Online education is effective for a small set of students: those who are highly motivated, mature, and who already possess considerable experience learning online. Most undergraduates do not fall into this category.

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Orwell’s Warning on Speaking Freely

Sunday, July 12th, 2020

… speaking freely is in danger… from liberal elites who, when tested, lack the courage of their liberal convictions; from so-called progressives whose core convictions were never liberal to begin with; from administrative types at nonprofits and corporations who, with only vague convictions of their own, don’t want to be on the wrong side of a P.R. headache.

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School pandemic plans don’t work for working parents, province told

Thursday, July 9th, 2020

Other jurisdictions are thinking outside the box so students aren’t simply divvied into groups and told to attend classes half-days or every other day — and Ontario should be too… The “hybrid” model of in-class and online learning “leaves working parents with young children, single-parent households and low-income families in the precarious position of having to choose between educating their children and their own employment,”

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The 2020-21 academic year will be the best ever for postsecondary students who need a hand financially

Thursday, July 2nd, 2020

… students who will have to borrow to cover their costs – half the undergrad population in a normal year – should consider how much extra money there is this year. Enough to chop thousands off their total amount borrowed, and years off the time it takes to repay the loan. Here’s a list of financial resources available to students for the 2020-21 academic year

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