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Ontario postsecondary institutions experience shifting faculty demographics, patterns of academic work, performance expectations, and policy requirements. How have colleges and universities dealt with these changes? What role can the provincial government play to induce positive institutional responses? These questions were debated on Friday April 29 at OISE in the Symposium on the Changing Professoriate in Ontario Colleges and Universities.

With about 150 participants at OISE and online, the Symposium brought together college and university leaders, policy analysts, representatives of sector organizations, professors and graduate students. Two expert panels discussed the shifting nature of academic work and changes to the professoriate in Ontario, and stimulated lively debate with the audience.

The event brought together experts from colleges and universities in Ontario, as well as higher education scholars. Speakers included Alan Weedon (Vice-provost, Western University), Wendy Cukier (Vice-President, Research and Innovation, Ryerson University; and incoming president of Brock University), James Brown (Chief Executive of PEQAB), Laurel Schollen (Vice-President, Academic, Fleming College) and Greg Moran (Director, Special Projects, HEQCO), in addition to OISE’s interim dean Glen Jones, professor emerita Sandra Acker, and Leadership Program Coordinator Katharine Janzen. 

This event continued the efforts of faculty in the Center for the Study of Canadian and International Higher Education (CIHE) to engage with the policy community and to support and foster informed policy debate in higher education.

The symposium was co-sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities; the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario; and CIHE, Â¥·ïÌìÌÃ, University of Toronto. The organizing committee included Lucia Padure (MTCU), Richard Wiggers (HEQCO), Leesa Wheelahan, Glen Jones, and Creso Sá (CIHE).