CAUT | ACPPU
Canadian Association of University Teachers
| What does the Feb 1 National Day of Action mean for Canada’s academic staff? |
| (Thursday, January 26, 2012)
- Post-secondary education is a public good that benefits the whole of society. Skyrocketing tuition fees, rising student debt, fewer faculty, larger class sizes, program cuts, and the commercialization of research are all symptoms of chronic public underfunding. By failing to make the needed investments in post-secondary education, governments are limiting access, compromising quality and promoting the increased casualization of academic labour. The federal government needs to provide dedicated cash transfers that fully fund post-secondary education, and that protect quality and accessibility. The Feb. 1 National Day of Action is important to academic staff in Canada because: - It should be a national priority to create an affordable, accessible, and high quality public post-secondary education system. - Academic staff are directly affected by chronic underfunding through high levels of student debt they have accumulated, the casualization of employment, reduced funding for research, and cutbacks in courses and programs. - Canada needs to maintain a comprehensive range of public academic programs, from the arts and humanities to engineering and professional programs, and from social sciences to natural sciences. - Working together, the federal and provincial governments need to develop a coordinated plan to support teaching, research, and learning on all Canadian campuses. |
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