The Council of Ontario Universities welcomes the $1 billion Post-Secondary Education Infrastructure Trust for higher education announced in today’s federal budget. Distributed on a per capita basis, this provides $390 million for Ontario post-secondary education over two years.

Ontario universities and the Ontario government have consistently urged the federal government to increase its expenditures in support of postsecondary education in our province to ensure that Ontario’s postsecondary institutions and their students can make their full contribution to our nation.

In March 2005 Ontario universities wrote to the Prime Minister and said: “Operating grants per student provided to Ontario universities and colleges are among the lowest in Canada. This disparity directly affects the quality of education that our students receive.”

Later in 2005 Ontario’s Postsecondary Review concluded that federal financial support provided to postsecondary institutions and students in Ontario over the last several years simply hasn’t been enough and that Ontario’s postsecondary system is decidedly underfunded compared to its Canadian and U.S. counterparts.

The Council of Ontario Universities urges the Ontario government to use the federal budget funding to support the province’s Reaching Higher plan by allocating the funds to address an urgent need on our campuses – facilities renewal.

“Premier McGuinty has been a steadfast champion of education and his efforts have paid off in obtaining federal funding for postsecondary purposes,” said Dr. Ross Paul, Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities and President of the University of Windsor. “We urge the province to allocate the funds to facilities renewal, allowing the universities to immediately undertake projects that will help improve the quality of the educational experience of our students.”

The province currently provides $26.7 million annually to universities toward maintenance and adaptation and renewal projects through the facilities renewal program. But the annual price tag to maintain, renew and adapt university buildings for effective usage is estimated at $260 million. An immediate infusion of funds would help address the well-documented need for facilities renewal.

“Additional facilities renewal funding would assist in improving the quality of the educational experience of Ontario’s university students,” said Dr. Paul Davenport, Vice-Chair of the Council of Ontario Universities. “Projects to address air quality, build wheelchair ramps, restore crumbling buildings, outfit classrooms with modern technology, and reduce energy consumption – each and every one of the projects that universities can undertake quickly with this new funding will make a difference to the quality of education.”

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For further information, contact:

Jamie Mackay 
Vice-President, Policy and Analysis, COU
(416) 979-2165 ext. 209

Dr. Ross Paul
Council Chair and President, University of Windsor
(519) 253-4232, ext. 2000