Pin. L., Martin, C, & Andrey, S (2011). Rising Costs: A Look at Spending at Ontario Universities. Toronto: Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance.
This is another excellent and well-researched publication from the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, and this post is not unrelated to my previous post on British academics rejecting systematized training in teaching.
“Per-student funding increased more than $3,000 over the last five years due mostly to increases in government contributions and student fees well above the rate of inflation. Students wanted to know how much went to improving the quality of their learning experience,” said Sean Madden, President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA).
Good question, Sean. The report notes:
More than 70 per cent of the increase in funding from 2004-05 went to salary, pension and benefit costs largely for existing full-time academic faculty and administrators, as well as increased use of part-time instructors.
Paul (2011, p. 143) notes: ‘the continuing trend to higher faculty salaries and flat university funding is just not sustainable over the longer term’. Basically students (and taxpayers) are having to pay more for less.
There is now a pressing moral obligation on universities to improve quality and/or reduce costs by doing things differently – how about training in teaching for a start?
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
