Posted on Oct. 15: Canadian universities face big challenges in the next decade, says Trends

It's going to be a decade of enormous challenges for Canada's universities, according to a major new report released today by
the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

Entitled Trends in Higher Education, the 94-page report notes that, by 2011, universities will face a projected 20 to 30 per cent increase in enrolment, or up to 200,000 new students. They also will need to hire as many as 40,000 new faculty members to respond to enrolment growth and to replace retiring professors. At the same time, universities will be expected to perform significantly more research if Canada is to reach the federal government's objective of being one of the top five countries in the world for research and development.

But all of this comes at a price: $6.2 billion more annually in operating revenues and $6.4 billion more a year in research funds will be needed by 2011 to meet these challenges, says the report.

Universities currently receive about $10.7 billion in total operating support and conduct roughly $3.2 billion in sponsored research annually.

“All the studies show that more and more children want a university
education, and this is being echoed by their parents,” notes Herb O'Heron, AUCC's senior analyst and principal author of the report. “Universities are trying to respond to this demand and have managed to make room so far. But classrooms are often overflowing and the growing teaching and research requirements, coupled with static or shrinking faculty numbers, cannot be sustained,” he says.

“Without new money, particularly for the core teaching function, there is little more that universities can do. But with new resources, we can increase accessibility by expanding capacity and also improve the quality of the education experience.”

Building on previous editions of Trends, the current report uses data from Statistics Canada and other sources to give a comprehensive view of the current state of higher education and a detailed look to the future. Among some of highlights this year in Trends:

• Over the last three years, full-time university enrolment has increased by almost 45,000 students to reach an all-time high of 645,000 students.
• Although there were 800 more full-time faculty positions in 2001 than in 1998, faculty growth did not keep pace with enrolment.
• Investment in university research has grown significantly in Canada in the last five years, with an estimated 35 per cent increase in real terms since 1997, but remains below the levels found in many other countries.
• Despite increases in government operating support in the last few
  years, per student government operating support in 2001-02 was 17 per cent lower than in 1992-93.

“We hope that Trends will be a useful publication for all those who have a stake in the success of Canadian universities,” says Robert Giroux, president of AUCC. “The publication is intended to stimulate discussion among all stakeholders as to the ways in which we can work collectively to ensure that universities are well-equipped to help Canada play its role on the international stage as a leader in education, research and international collaboration.”

Detailed summaries of the major findings in Trends are available at www.aucc.ca/en/newsindex.html.

(Canada NewsWire, Oct. 15, 2002)