As if anticipating the arrival of spring, the Government of Ontario announced in February a package of investments in post-secondary education that seemed to bring the sector back to life. The resilience of Ontario鈥檚 universities 鈥 their ability to provide an outstanding education and to lead the country in research, despite being funded on a per-student basis at the lowest level of any province in Confederation 鈥 has frequently and appropriately been remarked upon. But over the last several years that resilience has been sorely tested, as institutions one by one have announced budget deficits so significant as to be demonstrably incompatible with continuing excellence under any kind of 鈥渘ormal鈥 paradigm.
Commentators have increasingly embraced a rather pessimistic discourse. And it is certainly true that without some change in the context prevailing at the end of 2025 鈥 without the easing of provincial policy on tuition, on enrolment, or on per-student funding, and of federal policy on international students 鈥 the financial equation for universities was less and less likely to work out. Where revenues were fixed or declining, mere inflation began to seem an existential threat.
Having been forced in 2024 to confront and take action to address this challenge significantly ahead of the rest of the province, Queen鈥檚 found itself sufficiently confident last year to embark upon the development of its Bicentennial Vision. That document, which I have discussed previously in this column, is optimistic and ambitious, but also realistic in its expectations about the material context within which the university will operate in the years ahead. The Bicentennial Vision discovers power and agency in this acknowledgement of constraint, choosing to recognize that Queen鈥檚 future depends on its current assets and future actions, not on the vain hope that some lost plenitude will be magically restored.
The province鈥檚 February announcement did seem somewhat magical, however, especially after nearly seven years of financial shrinkage in the sector and the hardening of federal policy on international students. The components of Ontario鈥檚 initiative to stabilize universities and colleges are publicly known and include provision for tuition increases which, although comparatively modest, will nevertheless increase the strain on students and therefore on the university鈥檚 strong commitment to needs-based financial aid. But the initiative also included substantial funding to enhance access and support for labour-market demand. As a package it was most welcome and the investment will certainly stimulate institutions and fuel their capacity for resilience.
The arrival of spring encourages us to think expectantly about the summer to come. Climate change, however, recommends we be circumspect as we imagine what lies ahead 鈥 the arrival of spring tells us little about the nature of summer to follow 鈥 and similarly we should not mistake the recent provincial investment in higher education for evidence that fundamental and irreversible change is not underway. Change is happening, and in so many respects: beyond the financial conundrum, which recent investments ameliorate but do not solve, there are also significant changes to the way in which universities are perceived in society at large, to their long-standing but increasingly questioned affinity with democratic structures, and to the very value publicly accorded to expertise and evidence-based thinking and action.
While these last few months have improved the prospects for universities in this province, the work of adapting ourselves to long-term financial realities remains urgent, as does the need to scrutinize, clarify, and defend our institutional mission and values in a social climate that is changing both close to home and around the world.