Ontario’s college system doesn’t need to be fixed
Who says Ontario’s college system is broken?
It’s not students. Enrolment at Conestoga and many of Ontario’s other colleges continues to grow despite demographic shifts that have resulted in substantial declines in secondary school enrolment across the province over the last 10 years. Increasingly, students are drawn not just from our local communities, but from across the country and around the world, with many hoping to settle here and contribute to the future prosperity of our region. They will provide a much-needed boost to the talent pool for our industries, addressing current and emerging shortages in key industry sectors such as IT, advanced manufacturing, health care and hospitality.
It’s not graduates. Almost 82 per cent of last year’s Conestoga graduates say they are satisfied or very satisfied with the education they received. More than 86 per cent were employed within a few months of graduation.
It’s definitely not employers. Almost 95 per cent of them believe that the Conestoga graduates they hire are well-prepared to meet the challenges of today’s workplace and contribute to the success of the industries they serve. The most frequent complaint we hear from employers is that they need more graduates than we can produce.
It’s not potential employees either. Conestoga consistently attracts a myriad of highly qualified candidates for full and part time faculty, support staff and administrative positions.
Only OPSEU says the system is broken — basing that premise on the colleges’ use of part-time faculty, and suggesting that these individuals are ill-treated and deliver poor value as compared to full-time teachers. OPSEU doesn’t represent these faculty members, who teach less than 7 hours per week at Conestoga and who are paid, on average, $75/hour. Union leaders are sacrificing the education of students to advocate for a group that they don’t represent on issues that are already being addressed through other processes.
Bill 148, Ontario’s Fair Workplaces Better Jobs Act, includes measures that will have a substantial impact on salaries and working conditions for all of the province’s part-time workers, including part-time faculty at Ontario’s colleges.
In addition, Ontario’s part-time college faculty voted earlier this fall on whether to join OPSEU: the results are pending. If the vote for certification is passed, colleges and the union will negotiate a collective agreement for this employee group.
Colleges benefit tremendously from the contributions of part-time faculty. Many of them are active industry professionals who bring their expertise into the classroom to enrich our programs and help students prepare for successful careers. In many cases, they have no interest in full-time teaching roles.
Imposing an arbitrary staffing ratio to meet OPSEU demands won’t add to the quality of college education, the success of graduates or the satisfaction of employers. What it will do is eliminate thousands of part-time jobs across the system that provide opportunities for active industry professionals to contribute to the education of the future workforce.
No, this strike isn’t about a broken institutional model, or about precarious workers living hand-to-mouth. This strike is about overturning the provincial college system by subverting the very principles upon which it was established. The role of colleges is — and always has been — to serve industry, workforce and community needs. Our success is the result of collaboration among all stakeholders. Faculty play a critical role, but cannot claim unilateral control over programming decisions.
There’s no question that the college system is underfunded compared to universities. A much higher percentage of our students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and often require additional supports to overcome barriers and achieve their potential. Further investments will also be required for the implementation of Bill 148, which will enhance salaries and conditions for part-time workers, but will add an estimated $12 million in costs at Conestoga alone, and hundreds of millions across the provincial system.
But to suggest the system is broken is not only incorrect, it’s dangerous.
By all indicators, the system is thriving, delivering on the promise of education that works — for students, for industry and for communities. Colleges have become adept at seeking out creative solutions to access essential resources and deliver the quality programming that our students both need and deserve.
OPSEU’s current misinformation campaign could result in a loss of confidence in the quality education Ontario colleges provide. That would have a devastating effect on our ability to attract the full complement of students required to meet workforce needs.
Lower enrolments will mean fewer jobs for educators too.
This strike is unnecessary and unwarranted. It’s causing frustration and anxiety for hundreds of thousands of students and families. Faculty deserve the chance that union leaders have denied them to vote on the offer from Ontario’s colleges and return to the classroom.