Having more BAs is a good thing

Ottawa Citizen

August 04th, 2010
By Allan Rock

The Citizen’s July 27 editorial (“Campus crowding”) identified important issues facing our universities. Student numbers have grown faster than campus infrastructure, so class sizes are often too large. Providing access to post-secondary education (PSE) while ensuring its quality remains a major challenge.

Nonetheless, and contrary to the impression left by the editorial, increased enrollment is good news, not bad: good news both for students and for our society.

First, consider the advantages for the graduate.

The Citizen suggested that the Bachelor of Arts degree is of little value, but it has been established that studies in the arts and humanities create the capacity for critical thinking, a decided advantage in any field. Furthermore, BA degrees today are increasingly conferred in such high-demand areas as communication, environmental studies, second-language teaching, journalism, public relations and translation: practical programs that lead to jobs and meet contemporary needs.

The editorial was critical of tuition increases without mentioning the financial assistance available to students. At the University of Ottawa this year, that assistance will total over $54 million (rated by Maclean’s magazine as the most generous program of its kind in Canada), almost half of it in the form of scholarships that need not be repaid. Over 40 per cent of our students graduate debt-free.

Then there also is the enormous economic advantage that PSE confers upon graduates.

The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation recently assessed the value of a degree in Canada in terms of the three Es: education, employment and earnings. The report found Canadians without a high school diploma were two-and-a-half times more likely to be unemployed than those with a bachelor’s degree. In 2005, a bachelor’s degree holder earned $18,000 more per year than a high-school graduate, while those with a graduate degree earned $29,000 more than those with only high school. Over the course of 40 years, a college graduate will earn $394,000 more than a high-school graduate, while a bachelor’s degree holder will earn a premium of $745,800 over four decades.

Increased participation in PSE holds advantages not just for graduates, but for their province and country as well. Ontario’s Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity reports 70 per cent of future jobs will require PSE and has recommended the province prepare our young people by broadening access to colleges and universities.

I support that objective and believe that PSE’s huge advantages should be accessible to all Canadians, not just elite members of our society as in the past. All of those who qualify should be able to attend university and obtain a degree, or go to college for training as a skilled worker. As the Citizen stressed, both institutions have a key role to play. Here in Ottawa, colleges and universities are increasingly co-operating to promote mobility and to offer joint programs, such as the collaborative four-year Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing program offered jointly by the University of Ottawa and Algonquin College.

The Citizen properly identified crowded classrooms as a continuing concern. Ontario’s post-secondary institutions are looking at a variety of ways to manage rising enrollment while preserving quality, whether through providing more direct student-professor contact in small-group seminars and mentoring or by broadening the use of online learning.

The best remedy for the crowded campus is to build the space we need. Governments have recently invested significantly in campus infrastructure. That money, together with our own capital, will result in many more and newer buildings on campus to meet growing demand.

Since 2005, the University of Ottawa has opened more than 400,000 square feet of new teaching and research space and carried out more than $75 million in renovations and upgrades. We are currently building a 15-storey, $120-million building along the Rideau Canal for social sciences, our largest faculty.

Accommodating increased numbers of post-secondary students will remain a challenge in Ontario, and more funding will be required to help meet it. But education is never a waste of time or money. It is an essential investment if we are to realize individuals’ potential and keep Ontario and Canada prosperous. By applying innovation to funding and the delivery of programs, Ontario can and will meet the challenge of increased enrollment. Here at the University of Ottawa, we will continue our efforts to provide world-class education to all those who qualify for admission.

Allan Rock is president of the University of Ottawa.