OurTrent Submission to the Rae Review
Here is a submission to the Rae Postsecondary Review by one of our members. This submission was also sent directly to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, Mary Anne Chambers
Postsecondary Review
2 Bloor Street West, Suite 700
Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3R1
September 26, 2004
Re: Submission of Recommendations to the Postsecondary Review
Dear Mr. Rae and other Review participants,
On the official website of the Postsecondary Review the following description is presented (emphasis added);
This review provides an opportunity to articulate a vision for Ontario as a learning province. As part of the review process, the Advisor will engage Ontarians in discussions to help define higher expectations for our higher education system, and to develop a plan that gets us to a higher-quality, affordable and accountable postsecondary education system. The Review will focus on the opportunity for all Ontarians that higher education represents, as well as the need for us to allow both individuals and institutions to aspire to and achieve excellence.
I would like to bring to the attention of the Review the strategic role of institutional management in achieving any set of objectives recommended by the Review, defined in legislation or directed by the Minister. In order to assure management fulfills its functions there must be transparency, accountability and quality control, and the means to monitor and measure these.
Unlike other provinces, our Ontario universities are exempt from the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Therefore a significant and transparent mechanism to assure university management is held accountable is absent (e.g. accountability for the responsible use of taxpayer dollars, the achievement of specific objectives, etc.). That our Ontario universities are not accountable under the Freedom of Information Act mechanisms is detrimental to both the quality and affordability of postsecondary education and can no longer be justified. This was effectively acknowledged when Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian recently said it would be a "consistent and next logical step" to include all postsecondary education institutions under the Act[1].
Recommendation 1
That the Postsecondary Review recommend swift passage of legislation that would make our Ontario universities "institutions" to which the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act fully applies (e.g. Bill 81 2004[2], "Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act").
In harmony with the notion of accountability, the Provincial Auditor should have expanded powers to conduct value-for-money audits of our Ontario universities and colleges.
Recommendation 2
That the Postsecondary Review recommend swift passage of Bill 18 2004[3], "An Act respecting the Provincial Auditor" to expand the powers of the Provincial Auditor to conduct value-for-money audits of universities.
Our Ontario universities need, and will benefit from, continuous feedback from their stake-holders (e.g. students, parents, taxpayers, staff and faculty) in order to measure the quality of institutional and managerial performance towards achieving excellence and other defined objectives including accountability. Feedback and quality control mechanisms are therefore required. These mechanisms exist and have been successfully applied in educational institutions elsewhere (a list of references is attached).
Recommendation 3
That the Postsecondary Review study the array of best practices for openly and publicly collecting continuous feedback from postsecondary stake-holders, measuring the quality of the performance of postsecondary institutions and institutional management, and publishing/updating the results at least annually. Subsequently, that the Postsecondary Review recommend specific sets of measurement practices to be adopted by postsecondary institutions.
Thank you for taking the time to review the above recommendations.
-- OurTrent member's name here --
Feedback and Quality Control References:- Baldridge National Quality Program:
http://www.quality.nist.gov/ - University of Wisconsin-Stout - 2001 Baldridge Award Recipient, Education Category:
http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/uwstout.htm - Education Criteria for Performance Excellence (Baldridge):
http://www.quality.nist.gov/Education_Criteria.htm - E-Baldrige Self-Assessment And Action Planning: Using The Baldrige Organizational Profile For Education:
http://patapsco.nist.gov/eBaldrige/Education_Profile.cfm - Are We Making Progress? An easy-to-use employee questionnaire to assess an organization: http://www.quality.nist.gov/Progress.htm
- National Quality Institute (NQI), the Canadian counterpart of Baldridge:
http://www.nqi.ca/ - Online Baldridge Survey Process provided by David Hutton Associates, a Canadian consulting firm specializing in assisting organizations to attain Quality:
http://www.dhutton.com/survey/ - Accountability Website at the University of Melbourne:
http://www.unimelb.edu.au/publications/accountability/
Endnotes:
- [1] “Privacy czar urges greater openness” by Murray Campbell, Globe & Mail, Wednesday June 16, 2004, page A10.
- [2] Bill 81 2004 on-line at the Office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario website
http://www.ontla.on.ca/documents/Bills/38_Parliament/Session1/b081_e.htm
(Note: Also available here at www.ourtrent.com with commentary) - [3] Bill 18 2004 on-line at the Office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario website http://www.ontla.on.ca/library/bills/381/18381.htm
(Note: Also available here at www.ourtrent.com with commentary)
