Partner Perspectives: Council of Ontario Universities

The OLIP interns were delighted to meet with our partner, the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), and speak with Krista Orendorff, Vice-President, Public Affairs; Dominika Flood, Chief of Staff and Strategic Advisor; and Yvonne Robertson.

Founded in 1962, COU is a non-partisan organization that strives to collaborate with its members to find consensus on a broad breadth of university-related issues and advance them through government and community stakeholders. The organization’s membership currently consists of the province’s 20 publicly universities and four associated universities. These members also encompass the interns’ alma maters, as well!

Throughout our meeting, we discussed an array of timely subjects as they pertain to postsecondary education, including funding models, student and faculty welfare, as well as rising research and innovation prospects. For example, we had the opportunity to expand our understanding of OSAP, further examine cross-university research streams, and the funding amounts allocated to unique campus services.

Bridging off these topics, we also spoke to the council’s relations with government affairs at municipal and provincial levels. In doing so, we explored partnerships across differing jurisdictions and how stakeholders have contributed to advancing university-related issues. These discussions also opened gateways to understand various funding distribution channels, and their short- and long-term benefits and implications for the sector.

We would like to thank Krista, Dominika, and Yvonne for taking the time to meet with us and share their perspectives regarding the organization. It was an incredible opportunity to broaden our understanding of the education sector, and the role of consensus-building across university memberships. We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Council of Ontario Universities for their continued partnership with our programme – we hope to apply our core takeaways as we move forward in our careers!