Report makes case for university public funding

Authors of a report on the funding of Ontario universities says strong public funding has spared the province's institutions from the worst of the economic downturn, compared to US universities where endowments comprise a much larger portion of the funding base. Produced by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, the report says the high proportion of public funding "helped to insulate our institutions from the serious impacts of the economic crisis" and urges governments to increase their investments. Entitled The Public Wisdom of Public Funding: Ontario Universities and the Recession, the report is one of a series of Trends in Higher Education reports. It argues that university funding decisions are primarily political and says the greater reliance in the US on endowments and other private investments "serve to underscore the prudence and wisdom of public funding for the province's higher education system"....