COMMENTARY

The Elephant on the Table – Faculty Compensation

May 21, 2010

KEN SNOWDON, President, Snowdon and Associates Inc., Harrowsmith, Ontario

In earlier commentaries I outlined the importance of the quality challenge in PSE (April 16th) and the importance of investing in more faculty (April 30th) as the linchpin to address the challenge. In the interim a report by TD Economics¹ has been released and one of the conclusions is that considerably more investment is required to address participation and quality concerns in PSE. Simply put, major increases in enrolment and research activity have not been matched with the requisite resources, to date, and the sector will continue to face increased demands in the coming decade. Meeting those demands is critically important to Canada’s future and the TD report speaks directly to the “tremendous expectations we have of our higher education system.”  

Meeting those expectations will require greater investment.  But the topic of investing in PSE often sparks some rather pointed comments, inside and outside academe, about faculty compensation levels (and workloads).  Some argue that faculty compensation is ‘out of line’ and new investments in higher education will simply end up in the pockets of faculty in the form of higher salaries. . READ MORE...

Canada admitted 252,124 permanent residents in 2009, well within the government’s planned range of 240,000 to 265,000 new permanent residents for the year. This number is about 30,000 higher than the average annual intake of permanent residents in the 1990s. About 60 percent of those admitted were economic migrants. An additional 178,640 temporary foreign workers and 85,131 foreign students came to Canada in 2009.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada

THE NEWS

B.C. employers guide school math changes
By Daily News, Canada.com
Dramatic changes are coming in how math is taught in B.C. secondary schools. The introduction of the "math pathways" program will be the first change in the province's math curriculum in secondary schools since 1996. Gregg Halfyard, district principal of learning and instruction, said the Ministry of Education has instructed districts to prepare for a "different way of teaching" math in secondary schools to better meet students' needs, depending on whether they plan to go directly into the workforce or the trades after graduation, or into liberal arts post-secondary programs or science and engineering studies.

Regina children behind learning curve: study
By Joe Couture, Regina Leader-Post
Children in Regina are significantly behind in early development compared to their counterparts in the country as a whole, according to study results presented Wednesday to the City of Regina executive committee. The results were released by the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region, the Regina Regional Intersectoral Committee, the United Way of Regina and the Regina and Area Early Childhood Network. As a whole, Regina's children scored much lower than their Canadian peers in all five major development areas studied. About 34 per cent of Regina children at kindergarten entry are behind in at least one development aspect compared to their Canadian peers.

Teenage girl challenges educator to engage black students
By Louise Brown, The Toronto Star
Never mind a five-year plan. Fourteen-year-old Habiba Cooper Diallo wanted the head of Canada’s largest school board to explain how he would inspire the disengaged black boys in her Grade 8 class into learning — in the one month left before summer. Her surprise question drew cheers from the audience of about 100 gathered Wednesday night for a public forum on education featuring Star columnist Royson James and Christopher Spence, director of education for the Toronto District School Board.

College students have their say
By Mary Dwyer, Macleans OnCampus
Ontario and B.C. have released the latest round of college surveys revealing what students think about their schools and the quality of education they received. Areas of focus include the usefulness of knowledge and skills obtained, as well as an assessment of the level of college facilities, resources and services. In both provinces the overall level of satisfaction among students was high. The B.C. survey found particularly high scores on the question of satisfaction with the quality of instruction. The Ontario survey also interviewed employers who hired college grads and asked them how well they felt the college had prepared its graduates to meet their needs as employers.

Brescia launches nine bold videos on YouTube
By Brescia University College News Release
Brescia University College has launched nine new professionally produced videos on YouTube and on the main page of the university’s web site to send the message that Canada’s women’s university is a solid choice among young women who choose to lead. Director of Communications, Marketing & External Relations Sheila Blagrave said that sharing the videos on the popular online video community is part of an ambitious marketing plan to make prospective students aware of unique learning opportunities at Brescia, including leadership roles and community involvement. “We created a series of videos that would excite young women about our university and make them eager to learn more about our unique educational experience by coming for a visit or applying to study here.”

Squeezed out of English CEGEPs
By Brenda Barnswell, The Montreal Gazette
Many students would envy the marks that Jassothini Saravanai submitted to Dawson and Vanier when she applied to attend CEGEP this fall. She had 90 per cent in English and 94 per cent in chemistry. She got accepted in social sciences - not the science program she wanted, nor her second choice, commerce. "This is a no-brainer. Two years ago she would have got accepted from both" CEGEPs in sciences, Schreiber said. The increase in applications to Montreal Island English CEGEPs this fall is double the hike at French CEGEPs. At Vanier and Dawson, where applications are up 24 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively, the colleges are turning away more students.

Participation is widening, just not at the elite end
By Rebecca Attwood, Times Higher Education
Selective universities are being urged to review their spending on bursaries, scholarships and outreach "as a matter of urgency", as new research shows that access to the UK’s elite institutions has stalled. Although recent data show an improvement in the proportion of disadvantaged young people entering higher education as a whole, a study examining only the most selective universities, published this week by the Office for Fair Access, found that there had been no improvement since the mid-2000s.

Students given no guidance by university staff
By Bernard Lane, The Australian
"Somehow universities, with all the financial constraints that they face, are going to have to find a way for students to interact with staff," said researcher Hamish Coates from the Australian Council for Educational Research. His survey of 25,000-odd undergraduates at 30 universities is the biggest yet and one of the rare studies to go beyond a popularity contest by asking students what they actually do inside and outside lecture halls. Just over 50 per cent of students never talked careers with their teachers, 46.7 per cent never raised for discussion ideas from class and 32.2 per cent did not raise their results with lecturers or tutors.

Hong Kong shares its plans to become a major academic hub
By Ian Wilhelm, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Hong Kong's secretary of education traveled the United States this month to discuss how the territory's overhaul of its education system would affect its international programs and the thousands of Hong Kong students who come to America to study each year. Raymond H.C. Wong met with representatives from several high schools and universities in New York, San Francisco, and Washington, as well as with officials of the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of International Education. In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Wong said the education changes are part of a continuing effort to turn the Chinese territory into a major academic center in Southeast Asia and to forge stronger global partnerships with American institutions and others.

The Swail Letter (May 2010).
In this issue: Trends in International Education Enrollment.