TORONTO, April 22, 2025 – “Ontario’s universities welcome the government’s investment in STEM education to strengthen our province’s workforce and economy in the face of rising global uncertainty, including the threat of escalating trade barriers like President Trump’s tariffs.
This funding helps support university STEM enrolment and recognizes the vital role that universities play in preparing Ontario students for in-demand careers in fields that are critical to Ontario’s competitiveness and resilience, like advanced manufacturing, AI, and life sciences.
Universities are doing their part to help meet the economy’s growing need for highly skilled talent by graduating over 37,000 workers in STEM in 2022 alone. They also increased enrolment in STEM by just over 74 per cent since 2010.
In fact, students are voting with their feet. Universities have seen a dramatic increase in the demand by Ontario high school students wishing to attend an Ontario university. Since 2020, Ontario high school applicants have increased by 16.7 per cent.
As a result of this increased demand by domestic students for a limited number of spaces, Ontario high school students are experiencing greater difficulties in enrolling in a program of their choice.
Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, a provincial government agency, projects that Ontario will need more than 200,000 new university spaces by 2046, which underscores the critical role that universities play in training the workforce of the future.
Similarly, COU is projecting that by 2030, more than 100,000 Ontario high school students will be at risk of not getting into the program or university of their choice, posing a significant barrier to access for Ontario students.
Ontario universities will continue to work with the province to help ensure funding keeps pace with the growing demand from Ontario high school students who want to enrol in an Ontario university.
Ontario’s universities rely on three main sources of funding: domestic tuition, international student tuition, and annual operating grants from the province. All three have been cut or frozen – and need to be addressed to alleviate growing financial pressures on universities.
It is critical to ensure Ontario’s universities have the financial resources to help grow and protect the economy, so that students can continue to access high-quality education and Ontario doesn’t fall behind in training the talent that drives innovation in life sciences, advanced manufacturing, AI, clean tech and more.
Ontario’s universities are looking to the 2025 Ontario Budget to:
- Double the time-limited Sustainability Funding and convert into base funding to ensure Ontario universities have the financial resources to help grow and protect the economy.
- Boost operating grants for Northern and bilingual programming to reflect the higher costs and special needs of delivering these programs.
- Announce a multi-year plan to grow the talent pipeline by creating more spaces to meet the increasing enrolment demand by Ontario high school students applying to an Ontario university.
- Boost operating and capital funding for research to help drive innovation, get shovels in the ground, build homegrown industries and attract the best and the brightest to Ontario.
At a time when Ontario is under threat, we need to lean into our strengths. Talent and innovation are Ontario’s competitive edge. Investing in our universities now will ensure we stay ahead of global challenges, grow our economy and create opportunities for the next generation.
We look forward to continued collaboration with the provincial government to strengthen our shared goal to build a resilient and prosperous future for all Ontarians.”
– Steve Orsini, President and CEO, Council of Ontario Universities