OUSA ensures quality of education rises with costs

With rising tuition, the question of quality in education arises as well, which is something the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) is concerned about. OUSA, an advocacy group that Feds is a member of, focuses their efforts on doing research, creating policies, and lobbying with the government to influence those in power.

That’s why Adam Garcia, VP education and steering committee member of OUSA, and Rylan Kinnon, executive director of OUSA, met with President Feridun Hamdullahpur to discuss education at Waterloo.

“We want to see a really great, quality undergraduate experience so that students are getting what they are paying for out of the university experience,” said Garcia.

They met to discuss a few things with the president, which included the recent reform in the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities system and the renewal of the Ontario Tuition Framework (OTF). The OTF is what dictates the ministry’s actions with regards to how post-secondary institutions can charge students tuition.

“We had a really good discussion about the system consultations moving towards improving quality in the system, which is certainly one of our biggest aspects,” said Garcia. “As the cost of education continues to rise we want to see increased value for students.”

The mood was hopeful and promising, and plans for the future are already in motion. OUSA is launching a campaign called Hire Education, which will ask the question: Is post-secondary education doing what we hired it to do?