As the New Scotland government positions itself to take greater control over the 10 universities of the province, some within the university community say that the potential changes are “short” and part of the “anti -democratic policy” of “Trump style” in the province.
Last week, progressive conservatives presented a bill that would link the government’s financing decisions with the government’s social and economic priorities. The bill 12 would allow the Minister of Advanced Education to designate up to half of the members of the Board of Governors of the University and force a university to a revitalization plan. The legislation would also allow the new Scotland Community College to grant titles.
CBC News contacted the 10 universities in Nova Scotia requesting an interview, but none gave someone. The spokesmen of some schools said they are still evaluating the bill and that it is too early to comment, while others did not respond.
The president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Peter Mcinnis, said that the presentation of blind legislation to administrators, including presidents, who were not warned or consulted on the bill.
“It’s a bit of an unexpected and not pleasant surprise,” he said in an interview with CBC News. “This seems to be collecting some of the most unpleasant trends throughout the country … it seems to be part of a certain amount of anti -democratic legislation.”
On Thursday, Advanced Education Minister Brendan Maguire said the province is not asking universities to eliminate programs.
“One of the things we said in the last bilateral agreement was that we wanted more seats for medical care professions because we desperately need health workers and we wanted 97 percent to be filled and encouraged to do so,” Maguire said.
“But under no circumstances will we ask them to eliminate the programs. Listen, they are their own entity. What we want to do is work with them to make sure they are filling what we need here in Nueva Scotia.”
Linking funds with government priorities
Mcinnis, which teaches in the Department of History of the St. Francis Xavier University, said that linking the funds with the interests of the government is “a myopic approach” because “political priorities can change with the wind.”
He gave the example of the University of Calgary, which at some point increased his focus on the oil and gas sector, but when that decreased, the registration decreased.
“Therefore, it is very difficult to forecast what will be valuable.”
Cathy Conrad, president of the Union of the Faculty of the University of Saint Mary, is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies.
She said she has worked for 25 years to supervise the development of climate change programs in SMU, and cares about the impact of legislation on her field of study, and others that may not align with government priorities.
“If environmental administration is not a priority of this government … So what does that mean for programs that are based on evidence and need and social justice?
Conrad and Mcinnis are concerned that if the government wants universities to concentrate on applied research or studies that help meet the needs of the labor market and have a more immediate return of investment, which could affect the financing of the arts and humanities.
Conrad said that the humanities are not always appreciated, but said that a broad and expansive understanding of our world is crucial to respond, for example, the threats of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, related to Canada that become a state 51.
“If we do not understand our history, philosophy and psychology and sociology of what it is historically, and in reality the relatively recent history, we do not know how to move and navigate to this new world in which we find ourselves very quickly.”
Conrad said the bill itself “feels and reads a lot as Trump’s style policy, which is really worrying.”
Board of designated governors
Both Mcinnis and Conrad said they are also concerned about the possibility that the government will designate up to half of the university boards of governors.
The boards are responsible for making decisions about budgets, capital projects, new faculties or reductions of faculty, and are also effectively the head of the president of the University. If the Government designated 50 percent of the members, “would incline the balance” to approve what politicians want, Mcinnis said.
Maguire said he will not choose the members of the Board. He said the province will collaborate with universities to find the right people for work.
Mcinnis said that while the administrators and members of the Board of Universities come and go, it is the members of the Faculty who are in their profession for decades and that they contribute their experience to benefit the university meetings.
“[Boards] You need to be advised and the best way to do it with people who are in the field that really teach courses and do the investigation. “
Mcinnis added that if it is responsibility that the government wants, that it already exists through a peer review system for financing decisions in universities.
Fusion concerns
As part of the bill, universities considered financial problems could be mandatory to undergo a “revitalization plan.” The Government could retain funds from these institutions until an acceptable plan that is coming to follow.
Mcinnis said he is concerned that he could mean that the government is considering merging universities, which said it would subtract schools attend to their communities.
David Westwood, elected president of the Association of Faculty of Dalhousie, said alarm on the bill, writing in a statement that universities “are already falling apart” as a result of inadequate public financing.
“More and more, public funds for pse [post-secondary education] Come with attached ropes, as provincial governments try to direct institutions to fulfill their own mandate and priorities through threats to retain or even reduce central financing, “Westwood, professor of kinesiology, wrote.
“Public institutions are being destroyed or eliminated in real time, and democratic values are under threat since power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few.”
The provincial financing of Dalhousie, he said, has fallen below 50 percent of the university’s operational budget, and the rest was mainly produced from the registration rates.
“You can barely consider Dalhousie as a public institution for a longer time,” he said.
Maguire said he doesn’t feel like merging universities in Nueva Scotia.
“What we want to do is make sure that they are viable and sustainable in the long term … and one of the things we want to establish is fair, you know, as warnings. So we know in advance if they are moving along an insolvency path,” Maguire said.
Maguire said that there are some universities that face financial problems and that the province wants to make sure there are “stops” before it gets worse.
“If they are advancing on a path of potential insolvency or progressing along a path of great debt, we can work with them with the tools they need to make sure they are sustainable. This is. We do not want any of our universities to disappear. In fact, we want them to grow,” he said.
General Auditor Report soon
The Office of the General Auditor of the Province is finishing its report on whether the Advanced Education Department is effectively monitoring and responsible for universities to take into account public funds.
That report is scheduled to be published on March 4.
The universities of the province receive $ 380 million a year in operating funds, plus $ 43 million for specific programming.
