Funding for Results in Higher Education

The Ontario government’s plan to make 60 percent of its transfers to colleges and universities based on results could transform the way higher education is funded, even if the details remain sketchy, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.

In “Funding for Results in Higher Education”, author Alex Usher looks at other Performance Based Funding (PBF) plans around the world, and notes that Canada is playing catch-up with many American states as well as European countries such as Denmark, the United Kingdom, France, Finland, Norway, and the Netherlands, who already use these funding models extensively. He then goes on to assess the details of the Ontario proposal – which would create the largest PBF system in North America.