Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 7, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Inside Story Winnipeg free press m 4 r january 1995 my o just who out of touch Here educators at Odds on universities storming Lowers Bald Santin education reporter the provinces universities Are out of touch and irrelevant to most of their education minister Clayton manness has and the question of Why they must undergo fundamental he i question whether or not our University Community is totally in synch with the daily lives of a lot of manness theres obviously a belief from my office that theres not a Strong understanding of the Economy of a Strong understanding of the engines of growth which Are so essential to the social fabric and a Strong understanding of How they but the universities and their defenders say manness accusation Only reflects How out of touch the education graduated from the University of Manitoba with a master of science in agricultural with his own University system and its Strong ties to most observers across the country believe Manitoba University system is already among the most rationalized in there Are two Small undergraduate universities in different parts of the province Brandon University and the University of Winnipeg and one Large University the u of m that serves the entire but manness wants to see departments and even whole faculties closed if they Are unable to demonstrate a practical link to Manitoba and its current economic i cant define the changes manness but there will be and i think there going to Call upon some structural talking the program course offering faculty offering across universities insist there is Little that can just be and have chosen to pare Back within i think one would have to argue with manness approach and turn to the broader social role of u of m president Arnold Naimark if you say the Only opportunities we Are going to create for our Young people Are those that relate directly to the contemporary needs of the local you end up shortchanging your Young people or driving them you end with a Seconder third rate training but manness says whittling the budget within departments has provided Only meagre savings and weakened entire Hes calling for some programs to be inside and outside the manness said he is set to begin talks in february with universities part 1 today the manness Challenge tomorrow students at risk monday plan 2000 at u of m tuesday Small schools defended wednesday business report card thursday Cros Canada View restructuring in a1 in the other Prairie provinces to rationalize on a regional his Challenge issued to the universities last singles out four study areas that he said the province can no longer afford teacher education manness considers these programs a prime candidate for rationalization within the the three Manitoba universities produced 900 education graduates last the minister and no More than 250 found Manitoba or he has already suggested eliminating graduate studies in now taught at u of its possible Only one University will be allowed to keep an education dentistry critics say this and the following choices Are prime examples of manness failure to understand How universities function and How they relate to the in recent reviews in Alberta and Saskatchewan have recommended their own institutions abandon their dentistry programs in favor of buying spaces at the u of Medicine this faculty is inextricably linked to the provinces healthcare system and is cited As a lure for the new Federal disease control education and health consultant Tim Sale said most of the medical experts who now work at health sciences Centra i and Boniface general Hospital came Here because of the hospitals link with the u of m medical without the experts will engineering the u of is engineering program is considered among the Best in the country by engineering and architecture but manness said there Are no sacred cows in the rationalization even the u of is highly regarded masters of business administration program could fall victim if a Case can be made that the funds can be better used Naimark counters that critics of the University should base their a Challenge to change but tuition hikes capped Bald Santin education reporter Manitoba universities will not get a second Chance if they fail to give education minister Clayton manness the answers he is looking the directive and challenges i put out to the universities Are very manness you miss the nobody could miss the particularly highly educated i Hope those challenges dont produce a but if they ultimately were going nowhere but continuing to dilute the product because of funding that Doest increase at a level everyone then i would think that ultimately these discussions will be taken to a so called different the threat is or have change forced upon manness said there will be no second review As occurred Nova Scotia when University presidents were unable to agree on in this government Grants that covered 70 per cent of the University of Manitoba operating budget in 1989 accounted for Only 65 per cent last its worse at the u of where Public support dropped from 67 to 60 per student tuition fees have had to make up the and manness says Grants Arent about to increase and Hes capped tuition hikes at five per cent a the minister said the set of challenges he posed to the universities last june essentially requires them to reinvent the end he should be institutions that Are stronger and More reflective of the economic and social activities of the Phil free press manness says he questions whether the universities understand the lives of Manitoban and the Economy of the the salary squeeze University salaries continue to increase As sources of Revenue remain relatively As the biggest part of University salary increases Are a major Factor in the University funding increases in average salaries for teaching including Deans increase University of 60 University of Winnipeg 51 University 59 the average salary figures for the u of m exclude the medical and mental source statistics Canada losing ground the four universities share including College Ulver Staire Boniface of the total provincial education operating budget has lost ground Over the last 12 projected increase millions millions total education Public schools colleges universities 623 73 78 25 47 source Manitoba department of education and budget estimates challenges on not on some of the Nickel Anddie cuts manness refers to have included at the u of Between 1991 and a 23 per cent reduction in full time academic from Down to the faculty of arts chopped from its budget last year and expects to Cut another this in the previous two budget cuts totalled almost at the operating budget was Cut per cent in 1993 and Frozen at that level last with what is essentially a hiring freeze in place for four at the u of most department budgets have been Frozen for several few hiring have occurred during that Hes expecting a lot More Raymond Dean of arts at the u of asked when he Learned of manness holy in really that not Nickels and talking millions of hundreds of thousands of were narrowing the number of opportunities within As we become weaker in some we say you cant get a major in that area or we wont offer graduate programs in that area wholesale cuts within the arts faculties Are difficult if the integrity of the degree is to be to eliminate any component of the two undergraduate universities or the Large undergraduate component at u of m would require redefining the traditional Liberal arts and science which University presidents say they Are not prepared to people often say there must be some programs you can University of Winnipeg president Marsha Hanen Point them what Are they what kinds of programs could you drop that you be harming the student to say there is duplication among the on the is but the University presidents say Treyve each carved out their own population base and Are the universities Are until this enrolment had continued to increase every manness has also told universities to drop Low enrolment programs and find other ways to the universities claim that they Are already doing that the u of m Library catalogue and its mainframe computer Are accessible through computer hookups by the other two the three universities offer distance education courses in the North that Are recognized by each the u of m and u of Ware partners in several programs including the Bachelor of and have a joint masters program in Public administration and the u of w accepts Community College credits towards a University degree in the Fields of business child natural biotechnology and manness Challenge document is his response to a Royal commission report that reached similar conclusions about the University dubbed the Roblin report after its former Premier Duff it found that universities Are expensive and poorly the which included Community and business leaders Kathleen Kevin Kavanagh and Sid concluded that universities must define their strengths and be prepared to eliminate marginal programs and but the Roblin report was criticized by the University Community because it offered few details of waste and the few specifics were described As grossly exaggerated or incorrect and often not applicable to the two smaller some government critics say the manness Challenge document repeats Many of the faulty assumptions of the Roblin report and is merely political Dogma responding to a financial in afraid that a lot of what youre hearing from manness is genuinely but simply the repetition of old criticism in a neoconservative said funding pos secondary education has fallen out of favor in the political Cycle of whats in favor and what bpm Emmen Grants have not kept Pace with increasing costs in wan Toto the How Grants cover less and less of University i 0 University of Manitoba total operating Revenue operating Grant tuition Revenue other Revenue University of Winnipeg total operating Revenue operating Grant ugh tuition Revenue other Revenue Brandon University total operating Revenue operating Grant ugh tuition Revenue other Revenue 20 Grants commission but education consultant Tim Sale said manness has blundered if he thinks the provincial government can order the nature of its a fundamental error to think that we can have government of any Stripe directing said it May be Messy and it May be but i think the Best director of the University Community is the academic under pressure from the real in the manness Challenge universities were told to develop plans to end duplication of programs and decide among themselves who alone should offer a particular manness said he expects the responses to end More than 30 years of misdirection and questionable priority As they redesign manness wants All components of the universities to focus on his governments particularly on the framework for economic 1993 document that outlined the Filmon governments Agenda for ensuring Lon term it outlines a 10point strategy for Prosperity that stresses Job investment and it is crucial that the vast Pool of intellectual capital resident in the sciences and humanities be brought to Bear directly on the cultural and economic development of the it manness said there is nothing inappropriate in telling universities to concentrate More of their teaching and research on our were i dont care who you Are in what institution you you cannot divorce yourself from the framework take it recognize its a leadership statement and decide whether or not you buy into it or reject it have the courage to say if you buy into make it an important element of the areas of study and the provision of knowledge those you w f ;