University funding questioned
Association head says ‘lack of transparency’ similar to Acadia’s secret $24.5 million
Funding deals for the province’s universities must be transparent and public, says the head of the Nova Scotia university faculty association.
“The problem is that it is being done on an ad hoc and a non-transparent basis,” Scott Stewart, president of the Association of Nova Scotia University Teachers, said of more than $6 million in emergency funding that is being doled out to two universities to eliminate deficits for this fiscal year.
Last week, it was revealed that St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish will get a bailout of $3.95 million in operating funding while the University of King’s College in Halifax will get an extra $2.2 million.
Labi Kousoulis, the minister of Advanced Education, said last week that the St. F.X. funding was to cover interest and debt on the construction of new residences a decade ago, while the King’s College infusion was needed to offset an enrolment deficit in the humanities programs it specializes in.
Stewart, a philosophy professor at Cape Breton University, said the bailouts are similar to the $24.5 million in irregular, secret funds provided to Acadia University in Wolfville over a five-year period ending in 2017.
“I’m not suggesting that any of the three universities we’re talking about here do not need the money,” Stewart said. “It is just that when government has programs that it is responsible for, like education or health care, the funding should be above board and transparent.”
Stewart said Cape Breton University claimed a few years back that it was in a financial crisis and underfunded to the point that it was going to lay off as much as 20 per cent of its faculty.
“That issue was never addressed by the government, correctly or incorrectly. At the same time another university (Acadia) was getting funding that was unknown and not part of the transparent funding formula.”
This year’s operating grant for the province’s 10 universities, dispersed through the general funding formula, is $341 million. Prior to the emergency infusions, the St. F.X. grant was $29.7 million, and King’s received $5.9 million.
Stewart said a memorandum of understanding facilitates the funding formula.
“The government is going through a process right now to update that and that should, if done fairly, provide equitable funding (among) universities,” Stewart said. “You can have equitable funding that is still inadequate and our main point here is that university funding continues to be inadequate and when it is done on an ad hoc basis, it may be unequitable.”
An Advanced Education spokeswoman said universities are upfront about their financial situations and any increases in operating pressures they face.
“Both University of King’s College and St. F.X. had approached the province requesting additional financial support,” Shannon Kerr said.
“Where our goal is to have all universities reach a financially sustainable plateau prior to entering the new MOU in 2019, we wanted to ensure each university was in stable position. Prior to providing the additional operating grant funding to both universities, and in order to complete our due diligence, we conducted a complete review of both universities’ financial situations and forecasts. Once it was determined that the additional support was required, the funding was approved.”
Stewart said general university funding has regressed to the 2010 level and that annual one per cent hikes provided by the Liberal government do not meet the cost of business increases each year.
“So every year we are losing more money and, even with quite huge increases in student tuitions, universities find themselves in need of extra funding.”
Stewart said the 2015 Universities Accountability and Sustainability Act leaves the universities in a catch-22 situation.
“If a university is in financial trouble, the government can come in and take over the financial operation of it. My organization and the Canadian Association of University Teachers had a lot of problems with that, including the fact that it seemed to violate our academic freedom and institutional autonomy. On the one hand the government is kind of holding that sword over universities’ heads and on the other hand, seen again in a non-transparent ad hoc fashion, handing out money occasionally. It’s kind of hard for institutions to figure out what exactly the rules are.”