Canadian Universities are lucky to be where they are on the global rankings of great universities. Their rankings depend more than you would think upon their laurels of past greatness. Each year, I am I am involved with the establishment of two such rankings, the Times Higher Education, and QS World University Rankings. Both use similar approaches, but much depends on the reputation of places from the perspective of faculty engaged in research in the different fields for which they supply information. The general trend is that Canadian Universities are slowly sliding down the rankings, with some exiting the top 500, and this has been the case for the past dozen years. Why? Two things. First and foremost, there is displacement as universities in emerging economies are increasingly well endowed with successful alumni and research stars. Second, and related to the first, is money. Governments in places like China, Singapore, Korea, etc. are throwing huge buckets at universities, as part of their countries' strategies to advance their societies through value-added activities, in anticipation of eventually needing to steer away from yesterday's industries which may be vulnerable to outsourcing and economic dislocation. This comes at the same time as universities in Canada are increasingly starved of funds from government. The best academic minds go to where the funding is, and this forms a basis for attracting the brightest students and thus successful alumni, the lion's share of research grants, etc., and the cycle perpetuates. A virtuous circle for the world-beating universities of the UK and the USA, and also increasingly for the rapidly rising Asian schools. A bit of a toilet bowl flushing for most Canadian schools (at least when compared to leading global peer institutions) and the vast majority of American schools (things are going much worse for the bottom 90% of UK schools). I am at a research intensive school, luckily, but the even here the decay is palpable. It is far worse for my colleagues at lesser ranked schools in Canada and abroad. The top 3 Canadian universities may eventually hold their own, but everyone else will decline, and some by a large degree.
Government funding for university budgets in Ontario is way, way below what it was in the seventies through to the nineties. Nowadays, student tuition and alternative revenue sources (including alumni support) constitutes a plurality of funding, and this has been true for the past 8 years. This year, we are modelling a 3% cut in provincial funding, on top of last year's 3% cut, and on top of frozen and cut budgets going back throughout the entire period of the great recession and its aftermath. The provincial government is also clawing back massive amounts of the funding raised by charging overseas students higher tuition, and in many cases, robbing us of the ability to charge higher tuition (well, at the graduate-level). Government funding per student today is one-third what it was in the mid 1970s, when the baby boomers enjoyed heavily subsidized tuition and expanding enrollment slots....our tax dollars now pay for the healthcare of these baby boomers, while investment in our knowledge and physical infrastructures (the backbones of tomorrow's economy) have been withering.
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. (Bertrand Russell). Sweet Loretta fart thought she was a cleaner, but she was a frying pan. (John Lennon)
Last edited by MolsonExport; Jan 7, 2019 at 10:18 PM.
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