Directing Ontario universities to specialize could introduce some efficiencies to our post-secondary education system. It could also allow some Ontario schools to push boundaries in their areas of expertise.

But we can’t forget about the mission of the system as a whole – to provide a comprehensive and broad education to students from all walks of life.

The provincial government has pushed for the specialization of Ontario’s universities, with the belief that focusing on more specific programs, as opposed to general programs, will save public funds.

The Strategic Mandate Agreement, released last month, compelled 44 institution to list its top 10 programs and the five programs they hope to expand.

This move comes after a long history of the province looking to press universities and colleges to spend according to their strengths as schools, and not in a way that would misuse funds from the province.

In Sept. 2013, a draft framework was produced by the province, which advocated for schools to focus on specific disciplines, or the future of post-secondary education may be at risk. Funding was used as leverage to encourage post-secondary institutions to follow the mandate of the province.

This poses some issues. Students are surprisingly immobile, in that if you live more than 40 km from a school, you’re half as likely to go to university or college. It drops by another half if you live more than 80 km away.

There’s a real danger that you may not go to university if your program of choice, or the option for minors and electives, is only available on the other side of the province.

Specialization is also going to complicate the already difficult landscape of transferring credits or changing programs. If specialization comes to fruition, it’s not inconceivable that a student wishing to switch their major might not be able to study at the same institution.

Should a student have to switch universities, it’s likely that few of the credits they’ve earned will be transferable. Universities will argue that you can’t compare the style of learning and teaching at one specialized school to another.

Interdisciplinary programs, or even a student wishing to incorporate different disciplines, might be similarly challenged. For example, a university which specializes in engineering might not see the merits of offering an English program. This fails to consider that students might benefit from exposure to an “unrelated” program.

Proponents of a specialized system believe institutions should have the means to focus on areas they believe themselves to excel at.

Under this system Ontario could find itself with a premier business school, the premier engineering school or the premier environmental science school.

But if other institutions can’t offer these programs at a similarly high calibre, Ontario risks having them dropped entirely in some regions of the province.

Regardless of where the province’s plans for the specialization of our universities fall, they should abide by two principles. The first is that efficiency can’t be the core motivation for this process, and the second is that students need to have access to a comprehensive education wherever they choose to study.

Otherwise, specialization is a disservice to students and the academic mission.

Sean Madden is the Executive Director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA).