Faculty and students at Alberta's universities and colleges are concerned about proposed legislation that gives the province unprecedented powers over post-secondary institutions while failing to deal with the real needs of the institutions.

The Post-Secondary Learning Act (Bill 43), tabled in the provincial legislature in early May, gives the Alberta Learning Minister the power to dissolve university or college boards of governors and appoint administrators to assume board powers and duties. The legislation allows the minister to dissolve the council of student unions and appoint an administrator to run the organization. It also imposes a ban on strikes by academic staff and by graduate students who serve as "instructional staff."

Jeremy Mouat, president of the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations, said many features of the Act are of concern to the organization and plans to raise these concerns with the government over the summer.

"Perhaps the most depressing aspect of Bill 43 is its assumption that post-secondary education is solely vocational," Mouat said. "Campus Alberta, one of the bill's central ideas to coordinate and integrate Alberta's post-secondary institutions, exists to facilitate the acquisition of credentials - to train, rather than to educate students."

He said he's disappointed the legislative overhaul fails to recognize the unique value and strengths of the province's diverse post-secondary institutions.

"Bill 43 fails to address the chronic underfunding of our post-secondary sector, despite Alberta's current status as the wealthiest province in the country," he said.

"Alberta's two largest universities are struggling to control ongoing deficits, tuition fees have soared, leaving many students with high debtloads, and nothing is being done to fix the system. There's certainly no advantage in being a student in Alberta."

John Hoddinott, president of the Association of Academic Staff at the University of Alberta, is also concerned about the bill.

"In 2008, the University of Alberta will celebrate its centenary, just three years after that of the Province of Alberta. Despite such a long association it appears that we still do not merit any respect from the government," Hoddinott said. "Premier Ralph Klein justifiably likes to brag about the 'Alberta Advantage' but he seems disinclined to recognize the role of the University of Alberta in helping to deliver it.

"Bill 43 is a mean piece of legislation that implies we are a poorly run institution that may need to be managed directly through Order in Council or ministerial direction. For what we deliver, we deserve better."

Professors are not alone in criticizing the Act. Student leaders are displeased with the provision that allows the government to take over a student union if it feels the affairs of the student organization are being managed in an "irregular" manner.

"What this is doing is taking the power out of the hands of the students who elect us and putting it into the hands of government," said Shirley Barg, chair of the Council of Alberta University Students. "And that's a damn scary thing."

Bill 43 would replace the current Universities Act, the Colleges Act, the Technical Institutes Act and the Banff Centre Act. Learning Minister Lyle Oberg said his aim it to have the bill passed in the fall session after a summer-long consultation process.