TORONTO, April 11, 2013 /CNW/ - Compared to other Canadian provinces, Ontario's postsecondary education system is efficient and productive, but quality is the key challenge ahead, according to a new report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO).
The province's considerable investments in creating an accessible system places Ontario at the forefront of Canada and among world leaders in enrolment and attainment. Its colleges and universities teach more students per faculty with less money per student than all other provinces. And like their fellow Canadians, educated Ontarians are more likely to be civically engaged and satisfied with their lives than citizens of other OECD nations.
But HEQCO's first annual performance indicator report on the province's public postsecondary system calls quality the new frontier in higher education and says that government funding needs to reflect a new priority. "A policy and funding framework that privileges growth needs to be retooled to emphasize quality outcomes," says the report. "A measurement framework that assesses quality in a convincing manner needs to evolve rapidly." Postsecondary quality was also emphasized in HEQCO's recently published report on Ontario college and university Strategic Mandate Agreement submissions.
The performance indicator report also calls for better alignment between postsecondary skills and labour market needs, as well as a greater focus on defining and measuring learning outcomes - described as "the next generation of core quality indicators. Currently, their absence is notable among the many data gaps identified in the performance indicator exercise, perhaps second only to the stark absence of national comparators for Ontario's college sector."
"Performance measurement is key to improvement and to advancing the Ontario postsecondary system, and our first performance indicator report is provided in that spirit," says Harvey Weingarten, HEQCO president and CEO. "It is presented with the expectation of continuous monitoring, assessment and refinement. We are confident that in this evolving process, additional and important data will make subsequent performance indicator reports even more useful to the postsecondary sector."
About the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario is an agency of the Government of Ontario, established in 2005 to contribute to the improvement of Ontario's postsecondary education system. HEQCO is mandated to conduct research, evaluate the postsecondary education system and provide policy recommendations to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities on improving system quality, access and accountability.
SOURCE: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
Susan Bloch-Nevitte
Executive Director, Communications
Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario
(416) 212-5242 / [email protected]
Learn more: www.heqco.ca
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