CAUT | ACPPU
Canadian Association of University Teachers
| Majority of Canadians want governments to help make PSE more affordable: Poll |
| (Tuesday, May 17, 2011)
- The majority of Canadians believe governments aren’t doing enough to make post-secondary education affordable, according to a Harris Decima poll conducted in April. The poll also shows that a majority of Canadians are willing to pay higher taxes to better fund post-secondary education, and that most believe the best way to help students is to provide more grants. While 46% of respondents say the most important way to help improve access is to freeze tuition fees, another 37% say fees should be lowered. Respondents in all of the provinces overwhelmingly believe conditions should be attached to transfer payments sent to the provinces to pay for post-secondary education. Most of those polled also believe that university and college administrations care more about the bottom line rather than the quality of education. If faced with government funding cuts, 52% of respondents say universities and colleges should cut administration costs first, compared to just 12% who believe fees should be raised, 13% who say salaries should be cut, and 14% who say increasing class sizes is the answer. “These numbers demonstrate that even if it means paying more taxes, Canadians want the government to do more to improve access to post-secondary education,” said CAUT executive director James Turk. “The majority also believe that even when funding is scarce, it’s the administrative costs that should be targeted for cuts, not salaries or accessibility for students,” he added. More than half of those polls said they do not believe that professors are overpaid, compared to less than 30% who said they are. As for university research, 60% are concerned that researchers should be free from corporate influence, almost double the number who believed research should be designed to meet private sector needs. The telephone poll was conducted with 2,000 adult Canadians between April 14 and 27, 2011. Results are considered accurate within plus or minus 2.2%, 19 times out of 20. A summary of questions asked and answers given is available here. |
Return to main news page |
Top of page