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Cost of university education can increase in the coming years NANCY WIGSTON CFUW-Georgetown A crowd of interested club members, parents and educators braved the February cold to hear CFUW Georgetown's speaker of the month, Simon Beck, Editor of Special Reports at The Globe and Mail. For five years, Beck and his team have produced the Globe's groundbreaking University Report Card. Until then, only one other publication was ranking Canadian universities--and they weren't asking the students. The Globe's innovative approach involved tapping into a popular Student Awards website, thereby gaining access to thousands of students, many of whom were eager to share their opinions about issues ranging from teaching standards to cafeteria food. Using several different criteria, the Globe's survey was, nonetheless, the first to ask students about quality of life on their campuses. That first year, universities were not amused. "Why should we care what students think about cafeterias, etc?" Five years on, the Report has had a positive effect. "Universities have started doing their own assessments about how people think about the whole experience." said Beck. In addition, as universities realize tend to feel most at they must compete for home. Queen's, the best students, they Western (recipient of are learning to sell the Report's overall themselves to their best grade for three student-consumers. years running), St. On the downside, Francis Xavier, undergrads are taught Waterloo, Guelph and in enormous classes. Wilfred Laurier all Beck's estimate of 700score highly with stu800 students enrolled in dents for quality of U of T's Psych 101 was Simon Beck is greeted by CFUW club teaching and for good adjusted upward to member Barb Baron. interaction between 1,000 by UofT grad and faculty and students-- audience member Lisette Logan. Such vast num- and among students themselves. bers leave students feeling frustrated at the lack of "For the universities," said Beck, "the numcommunication with their professors. ber one issue is funding." Universities really In the five years since the first Globe want to deregulate tuition fees, which average Report appeared, noted Beck, e-mail contact between $4,000 and $5,000 per year across the between students and professors-- from being country-- with the exception of Quebec, non-existent-- has become a fact of life that where provincial residents pay only $1,500. has improved student-faculty interaction. "There is no evidence that these fixed fees "If you don't have a chance to ask a ques- increase access for lower-income families," he tion in class, you can e-mail your professor continued, predicting that in five to 10 years the after class," he said. campaign by an Ivy League style G-10 group At the other end of the comfort scale, are (consisting of Canada's top institutions) for more medium-to-small universities, where students independence in setting fees will come to pass. "It'll be interesting to see what effect this has on universities," he said. Endowments on the American scale (at a high of $40,000 per student) simply don't exist in Canada. Currently, many institutions have been devoting considerable energy to fundraising. Another trend that the Globe has highlighted is the outnumbering of men by women among today's undergrads. Ratios of 60/40 (women to men) are average in every field of study, with only two exceptions: mathematics and engineering. "This amazing demographic shift," said Beck, is also apparent in Britain and America. Partly the result of the movement for women's equality, it's also due to the simple fact that girls do better in high school. Having more ambition, they receive better grades. He predicted "interesting social effects," giving as an example the drive in the 1970s and 1980s to recruit more female law students, which drew women "with social consciences" to the study of law, which in turn had an effect on Canadian laws. The evening ended with a lively Q&A session, during which Beck, an Oxford graduate, admitted to already wondering, as a parent, about which university would best suit his own four-year-old.