Established 1964 Headquarters Toronto, Canada | President Prof. Mark Langer Founded 1964 | |
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Address 83 Yonge Street, Suite 300, Toronto, Ontario M5C 1S8, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Profiles | ||
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) is a Canadian non-profit organization that represents 16,000 teachers, researchers, and librarians through its interaction with the Ontario government, opposition parties, related agencies, and associations. OCUFA also allows its twenty-six member faculty associations to coordinate media relations and research for collective bargaining. OCUFA also publishes Academic Matters, a quarterly journal that covers higher education topics across Canada, and a monthly electronic newsletter, Ontario University Report, with specific content for Ontario members. OCUFA maintains a separate website for advocacy entitled Quality Matters and provides members with a discount program named Edvantage.
Contents
Background
Established in 1964, the mandate of OCUFA is to represent and express the views of academic staff at universities in Ontario in order to improve the quality of higher education in the province. The objectives include representing the interests of its members, advocacy regarding legislation and public policy affecting universities in Ontario, researching applicable areas, resolving differences between members, and information sharing (e.g., conferences). The board of directors maintains governance of the OCUFA while each member (i.e., faculty association) appoints one person to be a director to represent the member at the board. OCUFA membership consists of twenty-six faculty associations that represent all but one of the public universities in Ontario.
Publications
OCUFA launched its quarterly publication Academic Matters in 2005 to cover higher education topics with a Canadian focus. The journal has a circulation of 24,000 and includes contributions from academic and non-academic authors. In addition, OCUFA provides members with a biweekly electronic newsletter in English and French (i.e., Ontario University Report or Rapport sur les universités) that covers news and events in Ontario. OCUFA also gathers and authors research briefs and reports on its website.
Advocacy
OCUFA is one of seven associations interacting within the structure of higher education in Ontario to represent the interests of faculty, academic institutions, staff and students. OCUFA primarily focuses on university faculty while the Council of Ontario Universities aims to represent institutions' perspectives. Correspondingly, Colleges Ontario represents college institutions in Ontario. In addition, the Confederation of Ontario University Staff Associations & Unions represents non-union and union non-academic staff while students have the option of representation through the Canadian Federation of Students, College Student Alliance, or Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. OCUFA conducts public opinion polls and gathers relevant poll data from other organizations to inform its members and the public. Internally, OCUFA provides members with a lobbying manual and provides a forum to focus on key issues. Externally, OCUFA maintains a separate website to communicate and coordinate advocacy issues with the public and related associations with similar interests. In the past, OCUFA engaged in discussions to support and amend legislation regarding the elimination of mandatory retirement and extend the freedom of information coverage for universities.