Public Education Network fights for more federal funding

Meeting with education ministers requested to discuss federal transfers to universities and colleges across Canada

Ottawa - The Public Education Network (PEN) has asked for a meeting with Canada's Council of Ministers of Education to discuss federal funding for post-secondary education across the country.

The network, dedicated to improving the quality of public education, includes union and student groups from across the country, including the 340,000-member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE). Larry Brown, NUPGE's national secretary-treasurer, is among those signing the PEN letter.

The group says cuts totalling more than $6 billion in transfer payments (including inflation) were imposed by Ottawa in the 1990s and have not been restored, despite significant federal surpluses in recent years.

"In the context of a growing demand for education throughout Canada, this underfunding of colleges and universities is reflected in a deterioration of study and working conditions in the institutions, limitations on the replacement of faculty, a larger number of students in classrooms, a tendency to reduce the offer of programs and little support for libraries or under-equipped laboratories," the letter says.

Because of this, universities and colleges in several provinces have been forced to seek alternate funding, resulting in a disturbing trend toward "greater commercialization of research and higher tuition fees," the organization adds.

It calls on education ministers to press the federal government to restore transfers on the basis of a formula tied to GNP (gross national product), noting that transfers 30 years ago equalled about 0.5% of GNP.

"We are asking the Ministers of Education, Canada to publicly commit that increased public funding be directed to support the following objectives," PEN says. The list includes:

• Facilitating accessibility to postsecondary education for all qualified individuals, without financial or geographical barriers;
• Promoting quality teaching;
• Offering a range of programs of studies;
• Fostering academic freedom that encourages the pedagogical and intellectual independence of teachers and supports free and independent research; and
• Supporting collegial governance and public administration of institutions. NUPGE