New Public Management and Ceremontial Change at Ontario Colleges and Universities

Abstract

During the 1990s, the Ontario government revised its funding approach for community colleges and universities in response to escalating provincial government budgetary deficits combined with weak economic growth. Between 1992 and 2004, increases in government funding failed to keep pace with inflation, such that Ontario's per student funding dropped to last place in Canada.

Case studies of two Ontario colleges and two universities were conducted to determine the impact of these changes on institutional planning and budgeting. The motivation was to assess the validity of New Public Management (NPM) principles in explaining the actions and the reactions of the institutions. These institutions responded by adopting more strategic approaches including deregulated programming, better program costing, developing new revenue sources and markets, and seeking efficiencies through larger class sizes, simplified grading, and the use of more part-time instructors.

A revised version of Lapsley's (2008) NPM framework was used to assess the effects of the Ontario government's actions upon colleges and universities. On the surface, the colleges and universities responded largely as predicted under NPM, with structural changes to their general management approach, encouraging entrepreneurial behaviour through financial incentives, and enhancing institutional transparency, accountability, and 'auditability' through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). However, what appears to have occurred was more ceremonial adoption of NPM. Effectively, the institutions experienced change on the margins, and continued to budget and manage much as they always have.

Keywords: new public management, budgeting, planning, government

JEL Classification: M49