British Columbia Finance Minister Kevin Falcon offered a bleak outlook for the province’s universities and colleges in his February provincial budget, with reduced funding for post-secondary education.

“A week after the Government of Alberta committed more than 6 per cent over the next three years to support its higher education sector, the BC Government has announced a cumulative 2.2 per cent cut over the same period,” said David Mirhady, president of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia.

Falcon said the government challenges universities and colleges “to reduce spending by 1 per cent,” adding that savings could be found by cutting discretionary spending such as travel and administration.

Not acceptable, said George Davison, secretary treasurer of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators.

“The finance minister says he wants to challenge our institutions to spend less, but his challenge comes on top of a decade-long trend in which his government has already cut real per-student funding by close to 9 per cent,” Davison noted.

“This budget will only intensify the pressure on our institutions to make further cuts in program offerings and student services. We need to see both of those strengthened, not undermined as this budget is doing.”

The budget also attracted criticism from the BC chapter of the Canadian Federation of Students, which estimates universities and colleges will see a real cut of $41 million by 2014.

“The premier’s ‘jobs plan’ for economic success is built on thin air,” said CFS-BC chairperson Zach Crispin. “Post-secondary institutions will play a critical role in preparing workers for new jobs, but the government is demanding that colleges and universities do more with less.”

The governing Liberals make no apology for their approach to ensuring “fiscal discipline,” which they claim is necessary to assuage international investors’ confidence and maintain the coveted triple-A credit rating.

The fiscal 2012 budget, lauded as the most conservative provincial budget in the country, also contained a reduction of close to $100 million in capital spending for post-secondary institutions.

“We think the premier ought to be honest and tell British Columbians that they are receiving a lower quality of higher education today than before the last provincial election and that it will be worse still in three years,” CUFA BC’s Mirhady said.