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Tuition hike needed for quality, MacKinnon tells Chamber of Commerce
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| U of S President Peter MacKinnon answers reporters’ questions after telling the Saskatoon & District Chamber of Commerce the U of S must fight to succeed in an increasingly competitive environment. |
President Peter MacKinnon gave a strong message to the business community April 25, telling a Saskatoon & District Chamber of Commerce luncheon that, while the U of S is struggling financially, it plans to redouble its effort to be a first-class research and teaching university.
But since the provincial government is providing a declining portion of the University’s operating grant, MacKinnon said this means increasing student tuition fees and seeking more private donations.
"In 1987 the (provincial government) operating grant was 77 per cent of the University’s operating revenue; in the year 2000, it was 66 per cent," the U of S president told the business audience.
"More importantly, when expressed in constant 1998 dollars, the government operating grant for our University is much lower in the year 2000 than in the year 1990."
At the same time, MacKinnon said over the years the U of S has followed "a low-tuition policy", and studies now show its combined tuition and operating grants provide it with the lowest revenue in Canada per student.
"For me, the implications are clear: First, we must double and redouble our efforts to obtain support from our alumni and friends. And second, we must look to tuition as an increasingly important component of our operating budget."
"The University of Saskatchewan can no longer afford to be a low-tuition university," MacKinnon said.
He announced that on May 11 he will present the U of S Board of Governors with a plan to phase-in sizable increases to tuition fees, to "move to the average tuitions charged for the programs that we offer in common with medical-doctoral universities across the country."
The phase-in is necessary, he told the Chamber, because of the "very substantial adjustment" required to tuition fees.
MacKinnon said the U of S "is struggling" in the competitive environment which sees universities across Canada and around the world vying for high-quality faculty and research dollars. He said student enrolment is u while the number of faculty is down, and the University hasn’t fared well in getting its share of funding from the country’s research granting councils.
Yet, MacKinnon argued, the U of S is vital to Saskatchewan’s future, and its quality must be fought for.
"Most of Saskatchewan’s professionals are educated at the University of Saskatchewan", and "well over 50 per cent of them" stay in the province.
The U of S is also the most important research centre in Saskatchewan, it houses the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, and one estimate says 20 percent of Saskatoon’s economy is directly or indirectly attributable to the University.
For these reasons, MacKinnon said to allow the U of S to wither would be enormously damaging to the city and the province.
"Our choice is to meet our challenges; our choice is to be among the best," he said.
He says the U of S is in good shape to compete on a number of fronts.
"So much of what is interesting (in research) is happening at the intersection of human, animal and plant life – and few universities are as well-equipped as the U of S to meet this challenge."
He also noted the University is a world leader in biotechnology, and is best-positioned to deal not only with the technical aspect of research and applications, but also with the ethical considerations surrounding biotechnology.
He said the synchrotron will provide another boost.
And, the federal government’s "new National Dream" of putting Canada among the top five Research & Development countries in the world is "an inspiring rallying cry", MacKinnon said.
He said it’s time to "renew the dream" of the U of S founders.
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