Is the cost of research a drain on university resources?

That research cost is a drain on university resources may be a good line for administrators to use on the federal government in their quest to increase the funding for indirect costs of research. However, university administrators shouldn’t get carried away by their own rhetoric and lose sight of the global picture. Research is what …

What’s new on Academic Matters

Academic Matters – OCUFA’s flagship journal of higher education – has added exciting new web content over the past few months.  New exclusives include commentary and analysis of program prioritization, predatory academic publishing, and a problematic new report on faculty workloads.

Executive Nominations Are Open!

The Annual General Meeting is just a week away! As many of you may recall, at the Annual General Meeting we hold our elections. We need nominations for positions. If you are currently a faculty representative, please consider taking an administrative role in the FA. Now that we have an Staff Officer, we have excellent …

Course Evaluations

As a result of a memorandum of agreement between UOIT and the UOITFA, a joint committee was struck to review the use of course evaluations. The following report was submitted by the UOITFA: UOITFA Teaching Evaluation Report

Controversial Ontario report says teaching loads should be higher

A controversial new report is claiming that just under 20 per cent of faculty in Ontario are not “research active” and should have their teaching loads doubled. Teaching Loads and Research Outputs of On­tario University Faculty: Implications for Productivity and Differentiation, published by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario in March, surveyed 10 university …

Custody and Control of Faculty Records

Faculty have custody and control of most documents and records they create in their workplaces. This means these records are not in the custody and control of the university, and so are not subject to requests filed under access to information legislation.