Different takes on the same announcement

Earlier today the Government of Nova Scotia announced the details of a new MOU with the province's universities.  I gather that in general austerity is the theme of the announcement (with $25 million in funding specifically dedicated to cost cutting - however that is supposed to work).

Of course how the province is presenting this announcement is a little different than some media sources.  To demonstrate the difference I thought it might be fun to provide the first paragraphs from a sources covering this issue.

To start, here is the first paragraph from the government's news release:

A three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the province and Nova Scotia's 11 universities will ensure tuition remains at, or below, the national average, increases research and development opportunities, and invests $25 million in universities to help them become more sustainable.

 From the Metro's story on the topic:

The Nova Scotia government will allow tuition fees to rise by three per cent a year while reducing its grant to universities.

From the Chronicle Herald's story:

Nova Scotia universities will see a three per cent cut in provincial funding, Labour and Advanced Education Minister Marilyn More announced this afternoon.  

 From the Globe and Mail's story:

The Nova Scotia government will allow tuition fees to rise by three per cent a year while reducing its grant to universities.

(As you may haven noticed, there is a striking similarity between the Metro and Globe and Mail paragraphs.  Though the stories had different headlines it seems that they both just re-issued the Canadian Press story.)

I guess the media wasn't too interested in going with the province's take on things in this case.

It has begun or On the road or a more 'rational' university system in Nova Scotia

Since the O'Neill Report on post-secondary education in Nova Scotia was released a few months ago talk of university mergers has been in the air. Recent university budget constraints and tuition increases have provided the merger fire with even more fuel.

It seems that we may have finally reached a tipping point. CBC is now reporting that Dal and the Nova Scotia Agricultural College are set to begin merger talks.

I presume the big question is if this set of talks will lead to any additional merger talks. Based on what I have heard on the subject MSVU seems like a prime merger candidate, as does NSCAD. I keep wondering if we can really justify the continued independence of SMU and Dal.

One prof I spoke to about this a few months ago thought that mergers were unlikely to happen, at least in Halifax, on a large scale because of the religious affiliations of the schools that would be involved. Could a protestant school really absorb a catholic school like SMU without causing a public backlash? While we will have to wait to see if such arguments are brought forward, I really have a hard time imagining that this would ever be much of an issue in this secular age, particularly when most of the students attending these schools probably can't identify the religious groups with which the school was originally associated. Furthermore, are any of these religious groups really interested in putting up a fight, particularly if winning means permanent budget gridlock for the institution and lower quality education?

Anyway, I suspect these merger talks are a sign of things to come for post-secondary education in Nova Scotia and given the size of the industry here such talks will be of some importance to the province as a whole. I know I will definitely be paying attention as this plays out.

Sadly fitting

How is that a stock/new ticker was added to the Dalhousie management building's (Rowe Building) lobby and I remained unaware of this development?

This sends a pretty strong message about the types of programs that are important to the faculty - mainly that the non-business programs aren't really part of the program. I guess I find this notable as I have started to wonder if 'business education' is really even appropriate at a university? Might there not be a better type of institution to provide this kind of training/education?

Also, why does the Rowe Building lobby smell like yeast?

Partially formed ideas about post-secondary education in Nova Scotia

Since the release of the O'Neill Report on post-secondary education in Nova Scotia a number of the report's recommendations and potential ramifications have been on my mind. Of course, none of these ideas have been fully formed, nor have I really been able to articulate exactly where the problem is or what I think might be a better solution.

Recommendations relating to tuition deregulation have, it would seem, been foremost on my mind. For your information, the general thrust of the recommendation was for a deregulation of tuition fees with the expectation that they will increase over time. Almost immediately this recommendation seemed counter intuitive to me, at least if Nova Scotia is still interested in having universities. If they they want their universities to whither and die this recommendation makes prefect sense.

I guess I should start with a little background. Of the 77 000 (or so) university students in Atlantic Canada, 35 000 are studying at Nova Scotia's 11 universities (6 of which are located in Halifax). Many of these students come from place other than Nova Scotia. Dal suggests that 44% of its students come from provinces other than Nova Scotia and 10% are international students.

On the demographics side of things, Nova Scotia has one of the oldest populations in Canada and is only getting older. Population projections don't paint a rosy picture of the Nova Scotia of the future. I would say that it will be nothing but old folks homes but I am not sure that they will even have the people to work in those positions throughout the province. Consequently, a fair bit of money and effort has been put into encouraging young people to migrate to Nova Scotia, or stay here if that is where they are from.

On the competing universities side of things, MUN's lowered tuition fees and a corresponding increase in the number students from Nova Scotia seems to suggest that some portion of the Nova Scotia population is responsive to relative differences in tuition prices. As things stood in 2005/06 (the last year for which I could find full data) the difference in price between Dalhousie and Memorial for 4 years of tuition, room and board, and fees was about $27 000. Dalhousie was almost twice as expensive as Memorial for exactly the same degree. Unfortunately, I don't have a full picture of exactly how having the country's highest undergraduate tuition fees are driving local students out of the province (but I suspect that it is not a pretty picture).

I should also mention that Nova Scotia has a graduate tax rebate that can be valued at several thousand dollars, if you pay taxes/have a job. While the utility of this program, at least to me, seems questionable at best (particularly when other provinces have comparable programs that are more lucrative), it does suggest that the province is willing to put up funds to encourage youth residency in the province.

So, to sum up, we have a context where a young, educated population is needed and there is some evidence that these people seem at least somewhat sensitive to price. Consequently it seems strange to increase tuition when efforts are also being made to attract young residents to the region. This seems particularly strange given the relatively small sums of money we are talking about on the tuition front. $35 000 000 ($1000 a student) in a budget of several billion is relatively insignificant. Instead of driving students out and then trying to bring them back with a tax rebate (that may not even apply to most people) they could maybe consider trying to encourage them to stay with lower tuition fees, or something of that nature.

Anyway, I know I am rambling and a little disorganized, but it just seems that by allowing tuition increases the provincial government has the potential to exacerbate an already serious problem. As far as I can tell, the best case scenario associated with these recommendations is that only a few thousand students stop coming to Nova Scotia to be educated - which won't be good considering the number of universities that the province has chosen to maintain.

Again, I apologize for the sloppy organization of these ideas. I just needed to get this off my chest. Maybe if I talk it through a few more times I might have something approaching a coherent argument or position.

[And I should be clear, everything discussed here is in the context of a place that has chosen to publicly fund education and population retention schemes. The issue isn't whether or not public funds are appropriate, but how they will be used.]

Score
Cameron 58
Neil 0

Canadian Political Science connection or where that library book came from

A few months ago, when I started to prepare for my comprehensive exams, I checked a number of books out from the library. Over the course of the past few months I have been slowly making my way through these books. Relatively early on the the process I noticed that one of the books, The Commercial Empire of the St. Lawrence by Donald Creighton, had a signature on the front end paper.

At first I didn't really pay much attention to the signature as I assumed that it had been placed there by one of the book's borrowers at some point in the past 70 years. Then, a few months ago, for some reason or another I gave the signature another look.

Much to my surprise I found that the signature resembled the name of one of the significant figures in Canadian political science: R. MacGregor Dawson.



That his signature appear in a Dalhousie Library book didn't make much sense to me at first. Fortunately, a quick search shed some light on the situation. Amazingly, it seems that not only was Dawson born in Nova Scotia, but he received his BA and MA from Dalhousie and also had his first teaching gig at the university. The book was published by a prominent University of Toronto scholar at about the time Dawson arrived in Toronto.

I presume that upon his death in 1958 Dawson's books, or a portion of them, were donated to the Dalhousie libraries and have then been in circulation since then. Sadly, the bibliographic record for this book does not seem to note its provenance or provide me a way of finding out if there are other books from the same source (which there likely are).

Why I am mentioning any of this is that I just find it neat to think that because of the signature inside the front cover of this book I am able observe a connection (even if it only one individual owning the other's book) between two prominent early 20th century Canadian writers. It is also kind of neat to think that at some point Dawson was likely hunched over the same book I am now hunched over. I wonder if he was as displeased with the writing style as I am?

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.

Strange timing

Just a few days ago I noted the strange prevalence of small, sometimes online-only universities in New Brunswick. It seems that in the intervening few days big news has come out about one, Lansbridge University.

It seems that the province will now be revoking its license to grant degrees because it failed to meet a number of required standards, and then failed improve the problems.

The university's own website includes a statement outlining the situation and how things will proceed from the time of the notification of their loss of status. Much to my surprise, the university will be offering classes and granting degrees until the end of the fall semester.

Maybe all of this growth wasn't sustainable after all? I wonder if some of the other new, small universities in New Brunswick are facing similar problems?

I wonder what this means for the students who have been granted degrees by this 'university'? I am not sure if this will matte for most of these graduates, but how does one procure transcripts and whatnot if the university no longer exists? How much does it hurt the value of your degree that the university that granted your degree was shut down only a few years after it opened?

A Few Quick Notes 443

-Today has been another nice day in Halifax, though as I look through my window I see that things have become slightly overcast.

-As some of you might have guessed, Kirsten and I arrived safely in Halifax last week. Our train ride, while uneventful, was quite fun. The second leg of the journey, from Montreal to Halifax, took about 24 hours and saw us really traveling in style. Not only did we have access to the panorama car, but we also had access to the dining car and our own sleeper room.

The sleeper room was nice, but quite small. Kirsten could easily stretch her hands from one side of the room to the other. Actually, it was somewhat difficult to move around once the bunks were folded down. This was most problematic when it came to going to the bathroom at night. Fortunately, there were no serious problems on this front.



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This is a video Kirsten took of a train heading in the opposite direction of our train. Very exciting stuff.

I also liked looking from the back windows of our two trains.



-While Kirsten was here she convinced Neil and Jeannette to take her to the Nova Scotia Natural History Museum to check up on Gus, the museum's resident tortoise. As it turned out, while they were at the museum Gus was out on the lawn for a stroll.



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Fortunately Jeannette had her camera and was able to film Gus's escape attempt.

-How are there so many small universities in New Brunswick that I have never heard of? At first I thought hearing about Crandall University was strange, more recently I learned that there are actually quite a few small, specialized universities in the province (St. Stephen's University, Lansbridge University, Yorkville University, and Saint Thomas University).

-On Monday I bought a new kettle. Unfortunately it isn't quite as nice the one I used to have.

The wave heads East

Yesterday I saw an announcement that Seymour Schulich was giving a $20 000 000 donation to the Dalhousie Law school/Faculty of Law. Immediately I wondered if this meant we would now have a "Schulich School" at Dal as similar donations at other universities have lead to a number of "Schulich schools" including the Schulich School of Medicine and Denistry (at UWO), the Schulich School of Music (at McGill), the Schulich School of Engineering (at the University of Calgary), and the Schulich School of Business (at York).

This morning I finally got around to reading a little more than headlines on the topic and learned that Dal will in fact be joining the list with the Schulich School of Law, though, interestingly, they haven't yet made the change on their webpage or even mentioned the donation on their News and Events page (at least they hadn't as of 11:30 AM on Friday).

Oh yeah, I guess I should mention this

Yesterday (or the day before that, depending on how you count) I mentioned a new scheme by the Nova Scotia government to attract young adult immigrants to the province. I made fun of this scheme as it appeared that the government had overlooked the, at least as far as I am concerned, more important problem of current residents leaving.

Anyway, it seems that today they announced a new program to try to encourage young'uns to stick around Nova Scotia. Though the details in the CBC story are somewhat sparse, I get the sense that this may be directed towards the math and science types instead of the social science or humanities types.

I would suggest that the major flaw in the program relates to whether these 'interns' will be able to get jobs when they have finished their degree program or not. If jobs are available in Nova Scotia many graduates would be willing to stay even without this program, and if there aren't jobs even this program isn't likely to keep them. I worry that the likely overall effectiveness of the program may be approaching nothing.

Furthermore, at $25 000 a pop, these are not cheap four-month internship spots. I wonder if Nova Scotia might be better off just annually offering 20 $25 000 fellowships for grad students. If these were open to out of province students they might even get a few people to move here.

Oh yeah, presumably this means a four month delay in finishing one's degree, just what everybody wants.

I guess my overall assessment, based on a single news story, is that the goal and program seem muddled. I am not sure that they are going to accomplish what is they want to with this program. Additionally, it seems likely that there may be better ways of keeping youth here with $500 000 a year than what seems to have been planned with this program.

I am quite curious if they actually talked to any students about launching such a program.

Edit: I just read the news release and the program doesn't sound all that much better or different.

A Few Quick Notes 260

-When I woke up yesterday morning Environment Canada was reporting that it was -23, today it was -22 While I think that the location of the weather station may have skewed the reports slightly, they were still pretty cold mornings. Unfortunately, yesterday it wasn't quite cold enough for spit to freeze before it hit the ground, a temperature target that I think I would like to experience about one time in my life. Aside from cool temperatures things are really quite nice. The sun has been out and the wind continues to be low or non-existent.

-This Christmas I was fortunate enough to receive a range of winter hats as gifts. Two of the hats are of the balaclava style, which surprised me as I wasn't aware that I had made my fondness for these hats widely known. Anyway, one of the hats is a hunter's fluorescent orange, and quite warm. Not surprisingly, I used yesterday's temperatures as an excuse to break it out for the first time (aside from in apartment use) since arriving in Halifax. The hat was great, it really kept the cold away from the part of my head that it covered, which was most of my head. If you have the opportunity to get one of these I recommend them, even if they do stand out.



-Yesterday I was able to test the coffee/mug warmer that I pulled from the free crap pile on Thursday. While it seems to do its job I am not sure how much I will actually use it. I think I am a little more comfortable with my mug resting directly on the desk, rather than on some piece of electrical equipment.



-Yesterday Neil and I took advantage of some coupons that a international fast food chain recently distributed. Unlike most coupons, these are returned to the customer once used, meaning that they can be used repeatedly. The best of the two coupons is for a free, no-purchase-necessary coffee. Based on people in line ahead of us, I am getting the sense that this in particular has been a popular coupon, as it basically means free coffee for a month. I am pretty sure that I will make an effort to head back a few more times for free coffee before the coupons expire.

-Yesterday there was a story in the Chronicle Herald about university enrollment in the Halifax area. It seems that the Halifax Chamber of Commerce would like to see it slightly higher, and has even gone as far as to set enrollment goals. Strangely, it seems that these goals were set without the support of the university and without any offers of support from the Chamber of Commerce (at least that is the impression that the article gave me).

Not surprisingly, the enrollment targets have not been met. Thus the Chamber of Commerce is a little disappointed in the situation. Amazingly, the Chamber of Commerce seems to have failed to grasp a number of the challenges faced by the local universities when it comes to increasing enrollment. A huge impediment would seem to be tuition, which is much higher than one would pay in other Canadian provinces. Not surprisingly, as noted by the president of St. Mary's University, a relatively large number of students have decided to go to Memorial (where tuition is much lower). So not only are these universities going to lose local students to cheaper tuition, they are also going to have a hard time attracting out of province students.

While many of the problems faced by the universities in this context are relatively obvious it seems strange that the Chamber of Commerce would set a goal and then seemingly do nothing about fixing some of the problems so that their goal could be met. Additionally, it seems a rather strange that the Chamber of Commerce would try to involve themselves in such an area without the support of the universities.

I guess there is no pay-off for having read the above rant, I just found the situation rather amusing and absurd on a number of levels.

-It seems that we should be having a guest for a few hours this afternoon. In preparation for the guest's arrival I decided to make some humus and a sticky toffee sponge pudding (really, I was just looking for any excuse to make these things). While I think the humus should be fine, I am a little worried about the pudding. It seems that I accidentally doubled the amount of butter in the pudding. This has obviously changed the nature of the dough, hopefully not too negatively. I guess I will find out shortly whether my error has made the dish inedible, or whether it is a great improvement.