

The Canadian Press





TORONTO -- Ontario's minister responsible for post-secondary education says institutions' future funding will depend on metrics such as graduates' earnings.

The Progressive Conservative government announced in its recent budget that it will start tying more funding for the province's colleges and universities to performance outcomes.

Only a small proportion of funding has been linked to institutional performance in recent years - 1.4 per cent for universities and 1.2 per cent for colleges - but that will go up to 60 per cent in the next five years.

On budget day, the government could not specify what criteria would be used to evaluate performance, but Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Merrilee Fullerton listed some today in the legislature.

She says the metrics will include student graduation rate, experiential learning opportunities, graduate earnings, graduate employment and skills and competencies.

Fullerton says that will encourage universities and colleges to improve those outcomes.