Sept-7/06

McGuinty Government Providing $4 Billion In Funding To Colleges And Universities This Year To Improve Access And Quality

PETERBOROUGH — Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty today announced unprecedented investments in postsecondary education that will enable colleges and universities to plan for the future and provide students with greater access to a high-quality education.

“We’ve made a lot of progress on our plan to improve students’ access to high-quality postsecondary education and training, and we have more to do,” said Premier McGuinty. “By making unprecedented investments in our colleges and universities, we’re working on the side of Ontario families who want to build opportunity for their children.”

For the first time, the McGuinty government is providing a three-year funding allocation to colleges and universities, with an historic investment of $4 billion this year, rising to $4.3 billion by 2008-09.

The three-year agreements include government and institution commitments to achieve system-wide goals and targets, such as boosting overall enrolment and graduation rates and increasing the amount of time students spend with faculty.

Chris Bentley, Minister of Training Colleges and Universities, joined the Premier for today’s announcement at Trent University in Peterborough. Over the next three years, provincial funding will enable Trent to hire about 25 full-time faculty, expand course offerings for degree programs, purchase library resources and lab equipment and upgrade on-line learning software.

“This multi-year funding will help make sure all our students can access a high-quality postsecondary education,” said Bentley. “Together with our education partners, we’re going to keep working to make sure we have the best system of higher learning.”

The funding announced today is part of the McGuinty government’s Reaching Higher Plan, a $6.2 billion, five-year investment to support postsecondary education and training.

As part of the plan, the government is providing a student access guarantee so that no qualified Ontario student will be prevented from attending public colleges and universities in Ontario for financial reasons.

Providing universities and colleges with unprecedented, multi-year funding agreements is just one way the McGuinty government is working on the side of Ontario families who want to build opportunity for their children. Other initiatives include:

• Doubling the investment in student aid to help more families with the cost of higher education; enhancements in student aid will benefit about 145,000 students this year
• Establishing the new arm’s-length Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario to support continued quality improvement in postsecondary education, monitor the student access guarantee, and provide greater accountability to students
• Investing $15 million in 2006-07 to improve access to postsecondary opportunity for francophones, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and those who would be the first in their families to attend college or university.

“In today’s competitive global economy, getting a postsecondary education is more important than ever,” said Premier McGuinty. “By investing in the knowledge and skills of our greatest asset — our people — we’re building a highly skilled workforce that will attract high-value jobs and build prosperity for all Ontarians.”