Federal Financing of Postsecondary Education and Reaserch: the Johnson Report

Abstract

Universities in Canada are to-day at a critical turning point. Despite significant increases in enrolments and expansion in research effort during the past decade, and despite the expenditure of substantial public funds, there is a prevailing sense of stress and strain within our universities and colleges. At the root of this has been the imbalance between public objectives and the provision of financial resources. Since 1977, while enrolment in universities has increased by 27% and that in colleges by 36%, support by our governments for the core operations of these institutions, expressed in constant dollar terms, has grown by only 2.5%. During the same period the research demands upon our universities have grown substantially without corresponding increases in funding for the indirect costs of such research. Not surprisingly, there have been consequent severe strains and even limitations upon efforts to maintain student accessibility, quality of programs and research activity, and these are now beginning at last to attract some public concern.