York University Professor Emeritus George Fallis has penned an article on the impact that the fiscal crisis that is currently being experienced on several university campuses will have on the rest of Canada. Fallis outlines the relationship between the quality of university education and Canada’s performance on the international stage. “During the 20th century Canada built a first-rate university system,” he writes, “but we have been letting it slip away through inattention and poor policy.” Fallis touches on the cost-cutting measures that have been implemented to address declining public funding and revenue, especially in Ontario, and how the fiscal crisis has come to a head in 2024. Fallis concludes that the solution is straightforward: “Our economy needs a high-quality university system; high quality requires better funding; we cannot be reliant on international student fees; domestic tuition and government grants must increase.”
