Post-secondary education gets $6-billion lifeline

Ontario’s universities and colleges were allocated $6.2 billion of the provincial budget over the next five years, U of T learned in an announcement last Wednesday. The amount includes $320 million in funding for graduate education, as well as $358 million for a reformed government student assistance program, lauded as a step toward improving accessibility for students regardless of income.

“The priority this budget places on higher education is particularly impressive in light of the province’s fiscal constraints,” said Interim President Frank Iacobucci. U of T said that increased funding would help it ameliorate student-to-faculty ratios, which according to a recent study are the worst in Canada at 24:1.

  • SARAH BARMAK

Toronto paints its self-portrait at conference

U of T’s Humanities Centre welcomed the Toronto’s leading artists and critics to Innis College from May 13 to 15 for Voicing Toronto, a conference on the state of the fine arts in the city. Speakers included playwright Djanet Sears and CityTV’s Moses Znaimer.

Despite the noted success of the city’s drama and literature communities, there was a lot of criticism of our architecture and visual art.

Richard Rhodes, editor of Canadian Art, commented that Toronto fails its visual artists. He said that an artist in Vancouver asks “if you are traveling…the cost of a ticket to New York and Toronto is the same, why would anyone stop in Toronto except to change planes?”

Architect Jack Diamond asserted that many Toronto buildings (such as the ROM and the AGO) focus only on the aesthetics of the building and disregard function for the community. “It’s easy to solve problems based on one aspect only,” he said.

  • JOSEF SZENDE