Financial assistance, student services and teaching pedagogy are important priorities for undergraduate students at Ontario universities, according to the results of a survey released today by the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). The report, entitled "What Students Want: Results of the Ontario Student Survey," highlights the results of a bilingual survey of over 10,000 Ontario university students that examined student priorities and satisfaction.

Results indicate that students remain principally concerned with the affordability and accessibility of university education. In one question, students were asked to prioritize how to direct institutional spending, and financial aid was selected over all other options by a large majority of students.

"Given that Ontario university tuition fees are the highest in the country, students are clearly concerned with the cost of their education," said OUSA President Meaghan Coker. "We urge the government to continue investing in improvements to the student financial assistance system to reduce barriers to accessing higher education."

Students also selected support services as the second highest spending priority for institutions, demonstrating their importance to student success. While satisfaction with most campus student services was high, students were significantly less satisfied with the quality of financial aid services, career counselling and services for students with disabilities.

The survey also identified factors that contribute to what students view as quality teaching. Available and helpful faculty, well-prepared lectures, an engaging presence in the classroom, and the ability to deliver material in multiple ways were considered to be characteristics of a high-quality learning experience. The integration of technology in the classroom and having a prominent researcher as a teacher were of lesser importance, particularly for those students who were less satisfied with the overall quality of teaching at their institution.

"When it comes to the quality of their education, students clearly put a high priority on teaching pedagogy," added Coker. "Initiatives should be undertaken to improve the quality of instruction, including more robust instructional support programs and formal training in teaching methods for PhD students."

OUSA released a student vision for the design and implementation of the Ontario Online Institute. Based on consultation with students and experts in the field of online learning, the report covers issues related to the affordability, accessibility, accountability and quality of the online learning experience.

Students are in full support of the Ontario government's decision to create an Ontario Online Institute. This endeavour will provide increased flexibility for students and has the potential to significantly improve access to post-secondary education, especially for traditionally underrepresented groups facing financial, physical, social, cultural, and geographic barriers.

After examining organizations dedicated to the provision of online learning in Ontario and around the world, students recommend that the Ontario Online Institute be designed as a consortium of universities and colleges that would share online courses, resources and infrastructure. To overcome the drawbacks of such a decentralized model, and ensure students can easily navigate the system, provider institutions should come together to create integrated systems of admissions, student support services, quality assurance, and credit transfer, as has been done at Open Universities Australia.

Without a doubt, Ontario's universities must be a priority for infrastructure investment. Given the province's need to transition to the knowledge economy, the robust projections for future student growth, and the Premier's commitment to increase the post-secondary attainment rate to 70 per cent, investing in university infrastructure is more critical than ever.

The $780 million provided through the 2009 Ontario Budget enabled universities to build new facilities and support increased demand for services. While this funding has allowed for essential new infrastructure to be built across the Province, little to none of the stimulus money went to reducing the backlog of deferred maintenance, now estimated at almost $2 billion.

Deferred maintenance cannot be deferred forever and there are real consequences to inaction on this issue. In the past, universities have been forced to tear down buildings and rebuild them from scratch because they were simply unsalvageable. If a long-term solution to the deferred maintenance issue is not found, our universities will lose capacity, and the cost of further expansion will grow. If left unchecked, it will erode the quality of university education, force the closure of buildings and lead to a reduction in the capacity of the system.

OUSA, along with its partners - the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, welcomed Dr. Grace Lynch, Senior Project Manager at Open Universities Australia (OUA), today for a presentation at the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.

OUSA and its partners were thrilled with her visit, learning from her extensive experience and incorporating best practices into the design of the Ontario Online Institute. Dr. Lynch discussed the history of Open Universities Australia and how the organization has grown to become the leading online institution it is today.

Dr. Lynch provided information on OUA's governance structure, partnerships, student support services, institutional provider requirements and expectations, student satisfaction and the student experience.

OUSA is excited to see the conversation expand in the upcoming days as Dr. Lynch continues to meet with stakeholders and provide feedback and context with an organization that OUSA is hopeful the Ontario Online Institute will take key aspects from.

Looking ahead, the start of a new school year brings the promise of new opportunities, and a new chance to engage our membership and stakeholders.

The month ahead will be a flurry of activity with a full fortnight of campus visits, presentations to councils and assemblies, meetings with media outlets, town-halls, guest speakers, info sessions, OUSA training, meetings with executive heads, academics, institutional planning offices, student leaders, and so much more.

For nearly the entire second half of September, OUSA's Home Office and Executive will be on the road and in the schools and communities of its members, reaching out for feedback, and input on what's important for students, and what's important for them to know about post-secondary education.

Much work has been done this past summer on OUSA's submissions, which can all be found on the website.

Look out for OUSA in your local and campus newspapers as we are advocate for students' accessibility, affordability, accountability, and high quality post-secondary education for the next year to come.

-Alvin Tedjo

When I sat down to write my report for this month, I could not believe that August had already flown by. It has been another busy few weeks here at OUSA, with several large projects wrapping up and several new ones beginning in earnest.
 
We completed and happily released our vision for the Ontario Online Institute and the final results of the Canadian Student Survey. The idea of increasing differentiation amongst universities continues to be a hot topic in the sector, and so we gave considerable attention to policy development in the area of differentiation and system sustainability this month. I had several meetings in August with various stakeholders to discuss the ideas we have developed this summer on a comprehensive provincial access strategy, and I am increasingly excited about how the project is shaping up. My paper on student financial assistance is making steady progress towards completion for Fall General Assembly. Finally, our policy on international students is now in the final stages of development and we had a good opportunity this week to present and get feedback on several of our proposals.
 
I'd also like to take this opportunity to welcome Laura Pin to the OUSA team, as she will be joining us next week as the new Research Analyst. Laura recently completed her Master's degree in Globalization Studies at McMaster University and has a wealth of experience conducting research, so we are looking forward to her first day on Tuesday. She and I will spend much of this month writing policy to get the access strategy and student financial assistance paper close to completion before heading off on our provincial tour to meet with students on all of our campuses through late September.

 -Sam Andrey