University labour strife underscores cost of tenured academics

The battle between York University and almost 4,000 striking workers over the lack of job security for contract faculty is underscoring a major shift in how undergraduate students are educated across the country, writes Simona Chiose for The Globe and Mail.

Even as access has greatly expanded, Canadian universities say they can no longer afford to deliver higher education through tenured academics, who may spend more than a third of their time engaged in research. Instead, most universities have decided that, to staff their classrooms at reasonable cost, they must turn, in varying degrees, to contract instructors and teaching-track faculty.

The shift is changing the undergraduate experience. Most students at large and medium-sized universities will have limited contact with their universities’ top, internationally ranked talent. Instead, they are taught by professors who have more education but less job security than high school teachers. Some observers are beginning to wonder if universities are making the right choice.
Full report on The Globe and Mail site