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January 21, 2000
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Volume 7, Number 9 |
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GENERAL |
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B.C. report blasts federal cuts
VANCOUVER – A report commissioned by B.C. Advanced Education Minister Andrew Petter and presented to Canada’s finance ministers at an Ottawa meeting in mid-December says years of federal budget cuts to universities have left Canada trailing behind the U.S. in the preparation for a new, knowledge-based economy. A Dec. 8 report by Globe and Mail reporter Rod Mickleburgh says the cuts have put Canada at a serious competitive disadvantage as globalization and research-based industries grow in importance. The report says per-capita spending on university students in the U.S. has risen nearly 20 per cent over the past 20 years, while Canada’s per-capita funding of post-secondary institutions has dropped 30 per cent in the same period. The report estimates the share of federal spending for colleges and universities has fallen more than 50 percentage points – to 1.6 per cent, from 3.3 per cent – since 1979, seriously eroding the effectiveness of Canadian higher education. The result is higher tuition fees, greater student debt loads, declining university enrolment, larger class sizes, and increased difficulty hiring and keeping top-quality faculty, the report states. "If we do not see a change, we are going to either see the quality of universities deteriorate or they will become institutions for the rich, with those less well-off cast aside," Petter said. The B.C. minister said a bidding war is beginning to break out among Canadian universities for the best and brightest faculty members, as smaller institutions with tighter budgets struggle to retain their lecturers, teachers and researchers. "The kind of underfunding we have experienced is just not sustainable. I think the situation is very serious," Petter said. He said there is a desperate need for the federal government to restore its past levels of funding.
For further information, visit the web site or contact communications@usask.ca
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Next issue of On Campus News: Friday, February 4
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