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February 2010
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Vol 1, Issue 7
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The Communiqué
OUSA's February Update
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Dear OUSA Members, (OUSA President | Dan Moulton)
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January saw significant developments in a number of OUSA's
ongoing projects. Most notably, the annual Blue Chair Campaign was a great
success at our campuses across Ontario, shedding much needed light on issues of
accessibility and early intervention.
With the release of the Provincial budget just around the
corner, OUSA continued its advocacy push with a number of presentations to the
Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. We were also happy to
receive an endorsement of our financial aid recommendations from the Ontario
Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
Finally, I was pleased to accept an
invitation from the Honourable John Milloy, Minster of Training, Colleges and
Universities, to join him at the head table for his speech to the Canadian Club
of Toronto on January 18. The
Minister's remarks largely focused on where we've come in the five years since
the Honourable Bob Rae presented his review of the post-secondary education
system in Ontario. He stressed the vast increases in enrollment seen under the
McGuinty government and the significant improvements to financial aid provided
through the expiring Reaching Higher Plan. For the future, the Minister stressed accountability and
credit transfer as important files. Unfortunately, while all the perennial
issues were touched on, the Minister said very little on the issue of quality
of education, in the past or the future.
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Blue Chair 2010 Campaign A Success!
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From January 11th - 29th, OUSA's 3rd Annual Blue Chair Campaign was a resounding success on all seven member campuses.This year each school had a unique campaign to inform and engage students, from Foam Bricks to Fortune Cookies, Pub Nights and Paint Drenching. Check out the various Blue Chair web pages to see what each school did, and come back in a few weeks when all the speakers corner videos are uploaded and edited into a message to the government about your issues with access, financial aid, and OSAP. It was a great year for Blue Chair!
OUSA would like to thank all the volunteers on all of our campuses who did so much work for the Blue Chair campaign this year, it truly was the best province-wide Blue Chair campaign OUSA had held in recent years. Congratulations to all, and thank you once again.
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OUSA advocates on behalf of students in government pre-budget consultations
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This week, representatives of the Ontario Undergraduate
Student Alliance (OUSA) were invited to participate in the provincial
government's pre-budget consultations. In speaking before the Standing
Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, Justin Williams, OUSA
Vice-President and Vice-President of the Federation of Students at the
University of Waterloo, outlined three key priorities for Ontario
students: modernizing financial assistance, supporting student success,
and restoring a fair and adequate funding model for our universities.
OUSA's accompanying budget submission, entitled Higher Education: The Engine of Economic Recovery, presents pragmatic solutions in each of these key areas while recognizing the government's tenuous fiscal situation.
"Funding is the most important issue facing the
post-secondary education sector today. The government needs to know
what students' priorities are and how to fund them, and OUSA has done
that," said Dan Moulton, OUSA President.
In addition to the formal pre-budget process and ongoing
consultations with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities,
OUSA has recently taken these recommendations to policy staff in the
Office of the Premier and the Office of Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.
"OUSA has received great feedback from our partners in the sector
and the government about our very practical and essential our suggestions are. We hope the
government sees this reality and enacts our recommendations in its
budget," said Moulton.
OUSA's member societies have also had the opportunity to present to the standing committee in St. Catharines, Kingston, and London.
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Executive Director Update | Alexi White
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Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, campus
coordinators, steering committee and home office staff, this year's Blue Chair
Campaign was the best one yet. A number of schools went above and beyond to
present a full week of interesting events and fundraising opportunities. Thank
you to everyone who came out and supported OUSA and our push to expand access
for underrepresented groups.
On the advocacy front, we were pleased to announce this
month that the Ontario Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
(OASFAA) has endorsed our recent recommendations on financial aid. The
recommendations, ranging from increasing OSAP limits to modernizing the
assessment formula, were presented to the Minister of Training, Colleges and
Universities as advice for the new long-term plan for post-secondary education
currently in the works. In their
letter of support, the OASFAA co-chairs remarked, "the intention and the work
that OUSA is doing in bringing forth these issues is commendable."
In addition, OUSA and three our member associations were
recently invited to make pre-budget presentations to the Standing Committee on
Finance and Economic Affairs. Brock, Western and Queen's each presented when
the committee visited their communities and I had the opportunity to address
the Committee in Toronto. OUSA focused on three priorities for the budget:
modernizing financial assistance, supporting student success, and adequately
funding our universities. We have
also discussed these issues with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and
Universities and, most recently, with members of Finance Minister Dwight
Duncan's office.
Also of note this month was Minister John Milloy's address
at the Canadian Club of Toronto. I was able to attend as a guest of the Council
of Ontario Universities and was pleased to hear the Minister speak at length on
his desire to improve accountability and reduce barriers to credit transfer.
His lack of emphasis on quality, however, was disappointing.
Finally, I wish to congratulate Alvin on his beautiful
wedding to the love of his life, Rebecca. He's even promised to name his first
child "OUSA".
*Editor's Note: Alvin does not plan on naming his first child OUSA... or even Alexi*
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The DORPA Report (Director of Research & Policy Analysis | Paul Bien)
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After a good rest over the holiday break, we all came back to the office ready for action. Most of the month of January was spent doing two major policy pieces: preparing to write papers for the upcoming general assembly in March; and, finalizing our submission to the standing committee on finance and economic affairs (or "budget submission" as it's called). The first piece is off and running, with teams working on topics ranging from students with disabilities to university inflation. Watch for some high quality policies coming in only six weeks!
As for the budget submission, elsewhere in this email you've already heard that we presented it in parts to the standing committee with a very positive response. As for the document itself, it is basically a combination of all of our reports released in the past year with a little more added in. Thus, the sections cover recommendations in the areas of: student financial assistance, student success, and fair contributions for students. The financial assistance section asked for increases in OSAP maximums and fairer repayment for students. The student success portion looked at a number of pilot projects in the areas of teaching quality and balance between teaching and research. Finally, our section on student contributions requested the government begin moving towards a 2:1 cost sharing model by investing more in the system each year for the next five years.
If you're interested in reading our submission in greater detail, please don't hesitate to check it out here: OUSA's Budget Submission |
The Communications Post (Director of Communications & Public Relations | Alvin Tedjo)
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On January 23rd, 2010 at 1:30pm, I got married to Rebecca Geroux in Mississauga, Ontario. The following Monday, we headed to Costa Rica for our Honeymoon, which we recently returned from this week. I'd like to thank everyone at OUSA for your best wishes, and I'd like to especially thank Alexi and Paul at Home Office for covering my work responsibilities while I took my time off to get married and go on my Honeymoon. Rebecca and I are looking forward to our lives in Toronto. I am also looking forward to continuing my duties at OUSA with our upcoming Food for Thought Campaign, Partners in Higher Education Dinner, our Spring General Assembly, and so much more!
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Alvin Tedjo
Director of Communications & Public Relations
OUSA | Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance
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OUSA's Partners Dinner
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OUSA's Annual Partners in Higher Education Dinner is set for Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto, Ontario. Last year, OUSA's keynote speaker was former Ontario Premier Bob Rae. Don't miss out on this year's exciting event, save the date of March 31st to attend OUSA's Partners Dinner. More information to come soon!
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NOTE: This event is often referred to as PiHED (Partners in Higher Education Dinner)
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