As Macewan turns 50, cuts, pandemic create mid-life crisis
Almost 50 years old, school faces what may be the most difficult scenario in its history
Next year, Macewan University marks its 50th birthday, a significant achievement for an institution that started out as a tiny community college at Strathcona High School.
The growth in size, scope and reputation since that time has been a remarkable success story. Macewan is now a full fledged undergraduate university home to 7.5 per cent of the province’s post-secondary students, and holds an indispensable role in the prosperity of the city and Alberta as a whole.
It’s impossible to imagine our Downtown without Macewan, which is one of the reasons I have long believed the school should consider changing its name to the University of Edmonton.
Still, next year’s birthday celebration can be only a bittersweet affair.
The school, like other post secondaries in Alberta, is facing perhaps the most difficult scenario in its history, dealing with the twin scourges of COVID-19 and provincial cost cutting. Painful
job reductions, tuition hikes, a punitive performance-based funding model and great deal of uncertainty are all part of the new reality.
The one major birthday present Macewan has given itself is to hire a new president to take all this on.
Annette Trimbee, who officially assumed the role on Aug. 1, checks a lot of important boxes. For the past six years, she served as president of the University of Winnipeg, which has similarities to Macewan in its size, downtown locale and focus on undergraduate studies.
Prior to that, she spent nearly 30 years working for the former Progressive Conservative government in Alberta, including stints as a deputy minister. That gives her valuable insight in how to negotiate the politics of her new role, in which she will have to be seen to be supporting the government’s agenda while also pushing them for investment to make that job easier.
Word is Trimbee is taking some time to get the lay of land before making any big pronouncements on the school’s future, which seems wise, though the unpredictability of COVID-19 may not give her as much time as she’d like.
As of now, Macewan’s plan is to keep most of its offerings online for the fall semester, with a handful of exceptions that will see some life return to campus. In particular, theatre, fine arts and other specialized programs that require face-to-face instruction will be allowed to resume, while scientific labs will be used at half capacity.
There had been worry the pandemic threat combined with tuition hikes and an inferior online learning environment might keep students away. However, Macewan reports that enrolment is actually on par or even slightly ahead of where it was last fall.
That’s encouraging news and with any luck, Macewan will get through the pandemic in good shape.
Then there’s the funding cuts, which present a more difficult and longer-term headache.
So far, the province has reduced operating grant funding to Macewan by nearly $13 million — about 10 per cent — since 2018, with additional cuts expected in future years.
Job losses have followed. As of June, the institution cut 176 staff positions, including 75 vacant positions.
More layoffs may be inevitable, though there is still considerable uncertainty on how Macewan will handle upcoming cuts.
Across the river at the University of Alberta, new president
Bill Flanagan’s strategy for cost cutting involves reducing the university’s physical space, an overhaul of administrative operations and an academic restructuring that will shrink the number of faculties.
That sort of blueprint can’t work at Macewan. The school’s campus is already highly consolidated, space is used efficiently, and Macewan is reportedly already quite lean in its administrative structure.
Instead, the likely plan for funding shortfalls is to bring in more revenue through increased enrolment. (This is also part of the U of A’s plan).
This is crucial. With a large cohort of students nearing the end of their K-12 years, the economy in trouble and the oil sector no longer showering low-educated Albertans with high-paid jobs, demand for post-secondary programs is set to skyrocket.
How Macewan will achieve this remains to be seen, but one hopes the school will look at expanding its offerings, not just for the 18-22 crowd, but also for mid-career professionals, newcomers to Canada, Indigenous students and others. It’s also believed Macewan wants to significantly increase its group of international students, who add diversity to campus and also pay much higher tuition.
On all these fronts, the institution must place a premium on listening to students, employers and industry to know what programs to create, and develop an ability to be nimble to changing trends.
All while not losing its trademark reputation for offering a high-quality, more intimate student experience than bigger universities.
This is where Trimbee’s political experience will be most needed, to convince a cashstrapped provincial government to embrace, rather than hinder, Macewan’s ability to contribute to Alberta’s economic recovery.
Speaking of going back to school, that’s where I’m headed this fall.
I’ve been accepted for a William Southam Fellowship at Massey College, which will take me to Toronto’s world of academia for the next eight months.
As such, this is likely my last column in the Edmonton Journal for awhile. It’s been a grand adventure and pleasure serving in this role, and I appreciate all my readers — even the cranky ones.
Until I write for you again, please stay safe and take care of each other.
The likely plan for funding shortfalls is to bring in more revenue through increased enrolment.