Big News on the Education front in Nova Scotia

It seems that a consultant's report has recently been submitted to the Government of Nova Scotia by Tim O'Neil on the subject of the university system in Nova Scotia. Not surprisingly, the consultant has made a number of recommendations.

One of the recommendations is to completely deregulate tuition, a change that would be expected to facilitate tuition increases. As a current Dalhousie student, and a former Memorial University of Newfoundland student, this particularly recommendation isn't particularly appealing to me. Furthermore, as the consultant notes, given a declining enrollment environment I don't see how increasing fees will help solve the financial problems of the universities. Actually, I can imagine a situation in which such a change may actually prove damaging. What will happen to enrollment in Nova Scotia universities if tuition fees in both Newfoundland and Quebec are several thousands of dollars less a year? Why would anyone come to high-priced, underfunded universities?

Another suggestion that the consultant makes is that a number of the universities consider merging. In particular, the consultant suggests that Nova Scotia Agricultural College, NSCAD and MSVU might be potential candidates for absorption or affiliation. I was a little surprised that the consultant recommended against a more all-encompassing set of mergers. I suspect that the duplication at the administrative level among Nova Scotia universities is quite costly. For instance, Nova Scotia seems to be paying 11 university presidents even though there are only 40 000 students, a number that in many jurisdictions in the United States might be associated with a single institution.

Of course there are a number of other recommendations that the consultant makes, but I found these two to be the juiciest. And I am sure that over the coming days we will see responses from groups associated with the universities and civil society. I suspect that at least some of these recommendations, notably the deregulation of tuition fees and potential mergers of long-standing institutions, will face serious public criticism. I am kind of curious to see how it all plays out.