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In an era of ageing populations and low interest rates, universities are among the many institutions struggling to make adequate pension provisions.

The province of Ontario has already pioneered jointly sponsored multi-employer pension plans for teachers, healthcare workers and others. Three Ontario universities ¨C the University?of Toronto, Queen¡¯s University and the University of Guelph ¨C have now agreed on a similar scheme, which other institutions may opt to join later.

include: ¡°greater transparency¡±, ¡°clear and explicit sharing of risks between employers and plan members¡±, ¡°more stable and predictable contributions¡± and ¡°efficiencies and economies of scale¡± that offer ¡°access to higher-return investment opportunities¡±.

¡°These [pension] funds are very large, and the larger the funds are, the more you have to invest, plus you have the flexibility to do different kinds of investments,¡± Angela Hildyard, special adviser to the president and the provost at the University of Toronto, , which?estimated that the pooled pension funds totalled about C$8 billion (?4.8 billion) in assets.

matthew.reisz@timeshighereducation.com