Dr David Wheeler, president and vice-chancellor, Cape Breton University

Canada needs a new conversation on federal and provincial funding for higher education

By David Wheeler

The time has arrived for a new conversation about what our federal and provincial governments—and indeed Canadian citizens—may expect for their investments in higher education (HE). Arguably it is long overdue, as the US moves towards a ranking system on university and college access, affordability and graduate outcomes, and as the UK continues to exert pressure for greater accountability in various impact measures of teaching quality and research,

Having worked in two English universities (Surrey, and most recently Plymouth) and three in Canada (York, Dalhousie and currently Cape Breton University), I take a special interest in contrasting the policy contexts, governance and mandate questions that arise for universities in these particular geographies.

In recent years England has undergone a revolution in funding arrangements, the virtual tripling of undergraduate tuition (funded by repayable student loans), the entry of private providers, and growth in degree-granting ambitions of the college sector.

And the revolution is not over yet. Depending on the results of the forthcoming general election, the market-based reforms of the current Conservative-Liberal coalition may accelerate or the sector may see a transition to a graduate tax under a future Labour government. Yet despite these dramatic changes, some core features of the English funding system have been preserved, to the ongoing national advantage of all HE institutions.

Of course context and internal dynamics within the sector matter just as much as national politics. The UK has a national policy approach for the support of both teaching and research, whereas in Canada everything is provincial or, at most, a federal-provincial hybrid. This explains why there are so many competing "mission groups" in the UK — the financial stakes are high and everyone needs to be in a club to offset the enormous political influence of the Russell Group of self-styled elite universities.

Today in Canada that would make no sense whatsoever, largely because the primary policy focus of most universities is on their provincial paymasters. The main exception, of course, is how to maximize research funding from federal tri council agencies and the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) where the U15 is especially active.

I believe there is a Canadian national interest in a number of impact areas that are vital to economic success, the future of our graduates and Canadian society as a whole. Here are some of the areas of Canadian under-performance that could be transformed by more strategic federal-provincial coordination and incentive-based funding:

• Marketing Canada as a preferred HE destination with appropriate links to progressive immigration policy;

• Enhancing impact of research, including innovation and commercialization;

• Enhancing social justice;

• Supporting First Nations access and success; and,

• Explicitly supporting the role of universities in regional economic development

Marketing Canada

With well-designed national marketing portals and strategies, the UK and Australia clearly outperform Canada in marketing HE to international students. With two-thirds of the population, Australia attracts double the number of international students while the UK attracts 3.5 times the Canadian figure with less than double the population.

Yet our economic and geographic advantages (including proximity to the US) far outweigh those of our commonwealth partners. And our need for immigration is exactly the opposite policy imperative to that of the UK, where the topic has become a socially and politically toxic issue.

Enhancing the Impact of Research

According to the AUCC, "federal funding of the institutional costs of research for Canada's universities averages 21.8%," while US, UK and Australia provide between 40% and 60%. This is clearly a systemic handicap for Canadian researchers.

The recently announced results for the UK Research Excellence Framework demonstrate what can be achieved when a government dangles more than £1 billion in core quality related funding for the support of research excellence across the sector. The approach creates much debate but stimulates significant competitive activity between and within institutions to optimize research strategies and vie for core research funding. Australia is piloting a similar approach.

It is not just the experience of the Anglophone world that we should pay attention to. At a recent AUCC event in Ottawa, approaches to maximizing research impact through innovation and commercialization in Israel and Germany were presented, with many insights shared for Canadian universities and policy makers to ponder.

Enhancing Social Justice

Social justice and regional equity could be significantly enhanced by a more strategic and coordinated approach to funding of HE in Canada. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) not only oversees the core grants to English universities for teaching and research, it also leads regulation of the sector (including quality assurance), best practice research and innovation, data collection and reporting, and "widening participation."

In England, widening participation is a formalized national funding approach "to promote and provide the opportunity of successful participation in higher education to everyone who can benefit from it." As HEFCE notes, "this is vital for social justice and economic competitiveness." Imagine what such an approach could mean for our First Nations if it could be developed as a serious federal-provincial partnership.

With only 8% of Aboriginal people aged 25 to 64 in Canada holding a university degree, compared to 23% of non-Aboriginals, a new strategic initiative in this area would be enormously unifying. The same logic could be applied to economically disadvantaged regions for which universities and community colleges may represent one of the few sources of social cohesion and future prosperity.

We may need a new mission group after all, because not all HE institutions in Canada think this way. Perhaps we could call it the "Impact Group."

Dr David Wheeler is president and vice-chancellor of Cape Breton University.