---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 11:07:51 -0400
From: "M. Michie" <Michael_Michie@MAIL.ATKINSON.YORKU.CA>
Reply-To: York University Faculty Association List <YUFA-L@YORKU.CA>
To: YUFA-L@YORKU.CA
Subject: ocufa: Question in Legislature on Carleton program cuts
---------------------- Forwarded by Michael Michie/Atkinson on 12/09/97
10:57 AM ---------------------------
mrosenfeld@ilap.com
12/09/97 03:55 AM
Please respond to mrosenfeld@ocufa.on.ca
To: ocufalist@ocufa.on.ca
cc: (bcc: Michael Michie/Atkinson)
Subject: ocufa: Question in Legislature on Carleton program cuts
On December 8, 1997, Wayne Lessard, NDP MPP (Windsor-Riverside) asked
the Minister of Education and Training the following question
concerning the program cuts at Carleton University.
It appears that in light of the Premier's comments and those of the
Minister of Education and Training, that "relevant" courses tied to
the labour market, "efficiency" and "accountability" are now the key
features of the government's postsecondary education agenda -- an
agenda that has a very narrow understanding of higher education and
little knowledge of major changes that have already taken place on
university campuses.
---------------------------------------------------------
Hansard excerpt, December 8, 1997
POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
Mr Wayne Lessard (Windsor-Riverside): My question is to the Minister
of Education and Training as well. With all of the attention being
paid to the damage to education caused by Bill 160, it's been easy to
overlook what's been happening to colleges and universities in
Ontario. In a recent speech, the Premier suggested that graduates in
humanities have little chance to make a contribution to society and
that liberal arts education wasn't a practical area of study for the
future.
Funding to universities is continuing to decline and, as a result,
universities are having to make damaging decisions. We've heard that
on Friday Carleton University decided to close undergraduate programs
in classics, German, Italian, Spanish, comparative literature studies
and master's programs in German and in Spanish. This is likely to lead
to the first dismissals of tenured faculty as a result of this
government's cuts to post-secondary education. Minister, is this what
the Premier wanted? Is this what he had in mind?
Hon David Johnson (Minister of Education and Training): I think what
the Premier had in mind was simply a system that is accountable,
efficient and relevant to the needs of our students today. The
universities and colleges are independent. I might say that in terms
of our universities, for example, and the kind of test - I guess
"test" isn't the right word, but the kind of relationships - Maclean's
does a scoring system on the universities across Canada, and I'm
really delighted that the universities in Ontario score extremely
high. They scored extremely high this year and have over the years.
We are privileged to have leaders at the university, at the college
level who are providing courses, but can the courses be changed to be
more relevant, to be more accountable, to be more efficient? I believe
we all here today would say yes, they could be, to serve the students,
to get jobs and to lead the ?? in the international world that we live
in today.
Mr Lessard: From your answer, it appears to me that you may agree with
the decision by Carleton to cut some of these programs. We believe
that your approach to post-secondary education is both short-sighted
and anti-intellectual.
If your budget cuts force universities to slash these kinds of
programs, it will have long-term impacts on Ontario's competitiveness
and the quality of the society within which we live. We believe those
are going to be negative impacts. Is that what you want, Minister?
Hon David Johnson: We simply want the moneys spent at the university
level, at the colleges, to be spent in a most effective and efficient
manner; that they involve courses that are relevant to the new century
that we're embarking upon in the very near future. We must bear in
mind that we need to train our young people, equip our young people
with the kind of education that will serve them in their life and in
the workforce. At the same time we must realize that it is the
taxpayers - and most of the taxpayers do not attend university - who
pay for it, so there must be an accountable and efficient system so
that indeed all society benefits from the kind of training that they
get in universities and colleges and that's all we're asking for.
Mark Rosenfeld
Community and Government Relations Officer
Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations
e-mail: mrosenfeld@ocufa.on.ca
tel: (416) 979-2117, ext. 34
fax: (416) 593-5607
URL:http://www.ocufa.on.ca