Momentum Grows
No-frills university urged in GTA
February 13, 2009
Louise Brown
EDUCATION REPORTER
Ontario should consider creating a new university in the GTA – undergraduates only, very little research – to handle the explosion of 25,000 extra students expected in bachelor programs over the next 15 years, urges a report by the province's advisory body on higher learning.
The study, being released today by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, calls on Queen's Park to consider launching a new undergraduate university somewhere in Greater Toronto – largely focused on arts and science – as well as an "open" online university, and suggests letting a handful of community colleges offer a wider range of degrees.
The surge of students is being fuelled by the boom of new Canadians in the GTA, plus a growing interest in post-secondary education.
But the 30-page report suggests steering clear of starting any more full-service universities, designing a new breed of "polytechnic" institutions for higher-level technical learning, or letting community colleges offer the first two years of four-year university programs, as is allowed in Western Canada.
"There's no one solution for handling this crunch in enrolment, but in the United States some institutions strictly focused on undergraduate education have tremendous reputations," said co-author Glen Jones, professor of higher education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. He wrote the report with fellow OISE professor Michael Skolnik.
If the big push is for undergraduate courses, Jones said, you need a campus that's light on research where professors can spend up to 90 per cent of their time teaching.
Toronto university officials hailed the idea.
"We welcome the proposal for a new undergraduate institution with laser-like focus on the liberal arts," said David Naylor, president of the University of Toronto.
Naylor has joined the heads of Ryerson and York universities in warning they cannot handle the enrolment boom on their already crowded, largely landlocked campuses.
"Our Scarborough and Mississauga colleges are already chockablock, and in the best of all worlds it would be nice on our downtown campus to give students more space, more grace and a nicer pace," he said. Ryerson president Sheldon Levy said his university has no room to take more undergraduates despite a 10 per cent jump in applicants this year. "So if we can't meet the needs of students who want to study in the GTA, we must accept that others can."
However, John Davies, president of Humber College, said he was disappointed the report suggests only "two or three" colleges be allowed to offer more bachelor's degree programs to meet the demand that is expected in business, social sciences and humanities. Humber already offers 14 degree programs.
"It strikes me as a very university-centred view of the world, considering colleges provide a type of access to post-secondary programs that frankly is hard for others to offer," he said.
An open university, the report says, would be more than just a school offering courses online – most universities do that already – but would be a virtual campus open to anyone regardless of academic qualifications. It would also give credit for life experience, take new students throughout the year and be more affordable.
The Alberta government runs a virtual campus – Athabasca University – which drew more than 10,000 undergrads in 2006-7 from Ontario, or more than one-third of its enrolment. Almost all Ontario community colleges let students finish certain degrees through this university, particularly in business, justice studies and science.
