A bolder vision for the College and University sector is required to ensure Ontario students will thrive in the job market, PC MPP Rob Leone said today.
Responding to the release of a report by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO), the PC critic for Training, Colleges and Universities welcomed healthy discussion in a sector badly in need of restructuring.
“I think the HEQCO report raised some important points, many of which were also raised in our white paper Paths to Prosperity: Higher Learning for Better Jobs,” said Leone. “What is unanimous is that the current system is failing a lot of students.”
The report suggests that the government has not been “active or assertive” and says that “discipline, consistency and commitment” will be required to get the university and college sector thriving once again. It is a claim that Leone says has been echoed across Ontario campuses.
“Students want an increase in quality, more accountability for tuition hikes and to ensure a good job is waiting when it’s all said and done,” continued Leone. “This Liberal government has yet to acknowledge or address these concerns.”
Many of the shortcomings of the current system involve tuition increases with no guarantee of an increase in quality. Leone said students can’t stomach increases without a clear demonstration of improvements to their programs. Ontario announced a three percent increase to tuition next year, all the while failing to take quality into consideration.
Many suggestions tabled in the report closely resemble those put forth in Paths to Prosperity: Higher Learning for Better Jobs.
“The evidence suggests that strategic funding targeted to specific
desired outcomes is a forceful and dramatic incentive that steers
the system and influences the behaviour of institutions”
(Page 7 – Quality: Shifting the Focus)
Leone wasn’t surprised by the similarities between the reports noting that students and post-secondary administrators alike explicitly called for a bolder vision within the sector and beyond.
“Education should be outcome based, and under this government, that isn’t the case,” concluded Leone. “Students who spend money and work towards degrees, shouldn’t be left wondering when employment will eventually come.