From January 11th - 22nd, OUSA's 3rd Annual Blue Chair Campaign will be running across all seven of OUSA's Member Campuses.  This year each school has a unique campaign that will inform and engage students, from Foam Bricks to Fortune Cookies, Pub Nights and Paint Drenching, this year's Blue Chair promises not to disappoint.  Find the Blue Chair Campaign on your campus and speak about your issues with access, financial aid, OSAP, or whatever you like, and maybe you'll get to speak your mind at our Speaker's Corner, and we will deliver those messages to the government.  It should be a great year for Blue Chair, so stay tuned!

www.ousa.ca/bluechair (Coming Soon!)

OCUFA (Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations) released its recommendations for the follow-up to the Reaching Higher plan to Queen's Park.

Toronto, Dec 18/OCUFA/
Investing in Students, Ensuring Success: Recommendations for a meaningful successor to Reaching Higher

Executive Summary-

The Government of Ontario's Reaching Higher plan was a visionary document that provided needed funding to Ontario's postsecondary system. However, it was not sufficient to overcome the long history of university under-funding in Ontario. Its impact was also eroded by unanticipated increases in enrolment and the current economic downturn.
In its work to craft recommendations for a follow-up framework, the Postsecondary Education Secretariat must address this under-funding and its associated effects. OCUFA believes there are three areas of urgent concern in the university system:
· The student-to-faculty ratio is too high, damaging the quality of the student experience at Ontario universities;
· Educational facilities, libraries and information technology resources are in need of renewal in order to support a quality learning environment; and
· Tuition fee levels in Ontario require students to pay for more than their fair share of operating revenue, harming the accessibility of the university system.
Each of these challenges is best resolved through increased public funding. In particular, OCUFA recommends:
· The Government of Ontario invest an additional $153 million in 2010-11 to hire additional academic staff and renew campus learning infrastructure. This amount will increase to $765 million by 2014-15, rising by an additional $153 million per year during that period;
· The Government of Ontario freeze tuition fees at current levels; and
· Compensatory funding be provided to institutions for lost revenue from proposed tuition increases.
These investments will greatly improve the quality and accessibility of Ontario's higher education system. In addition, OCUFA recommends that new Multi-Year Accountability Agreements be developed in consultation with faculty and students. These agreements should provide meaningful and comparable data that facilitates collaborative quality improvement.

-OCUFA

For more information, please contact:
Graeme Stewart
Communications and Government Relations Manager
416 979 2117 x232 | 647 280 3175 (mobile)
gstewart@ocufa.on.ca

2009 was a great year in Communications, and for OUSA. We had many goals, and we set the bar high. I am very proud to say that we reached those goals, with the support of our home office team and steering committee, as well as our campus coordinators and volunteers, OUSA has had one of its most successful years.

OUSA's Highlights for 2009:

-Budget Submission to Ontario Government
-Bob Rae keynote speech at Partners in Higher Education Dinner
-Minister Milloy speaks at Partners Dinner and OUSA's Fall General Assembly
-Published 'The Access Issue' of Educated Solutions in the Spring
-Successfully runs Blue Chair 2009 for second consecutive year on six of its campuses
-Launches newly redesigned and more functional website www.ousa.ca
-Started new monthly newsletter titled 'The Communiqué'
-Visits all seven campuses in September with Information Sessions and Meetings
-Satellite lobbied MPPs in their home ridings with OUSA's member schools
-Conducted OUSA's first ever Focus Groups on campuses
-Trained all of OUSA's Campus Coordinators and Volunteers
-Held town-hall meetings at Windsor, McMaster, and Waterloo for Post-Secondary Education
-Successfully lobbied for $150 Million investment in university infrastructure
-Met with over 60 MPPs during Annual Lobby Conference
-Held Press Conference at Queen's Park with partners
-Created Knowledge Economy Document
-Met with University Presidents from Queen's, McMaster, Laurier, and Windsor
-Published 'The Future of Post-Secondary Education Issue' of Educated Solutions in the Fall
-Completed and passed 'Student Success Policy' as well as the 'Pan-Canadian Policy' at GA
-Created a Government Submission to the PSE Secretariat on the Post-Reaching Higher Plan
-Held a successful Alumni Event in Toronto during Lobby Conference
-Held our annual Transition Conference and Strategic Planning Conference
-Continued to be awesome and effective in OUSA's mission...

There were definitely more highlights for OUSA in 2009, and if you ask any of our Steering Committee Members and Home Office Staff, you'll get a different list every time.  Just goes to show you that OUSA had a fantastic year with fantastic people.  If 2010 is anywhere near as good as 2009, then OUSA has a lot to look forward to.

December started off with a bang.  That bang being our Lobby Conference, which, as we've already said was a huge success on all fronts.  After that event, the rest of the month was spent doing various follow-up actions stemming, as well as wrap up for the year.  In research and policy, this meant ensuring that all those undertaking research and policy projects due for the spring General Assembly (GA) had as much preparatory material as possible.  Not surprisingly, a great deal of reading must occur in order to write a well developed OUSA paper.  The holiday break is a perfect time to get this done!
 
Now that we are all back from a brief hiatus, the research and policy machine will move forward full steam ahead.  Other than projects for the spring GA, the next few months we see a budget submission produced and presented, the final focus group report delivered, and the national student survey coming to fruition, just to name a few!  It's going to be a busy and exciting time...so stay tuned!