![The province is providing a 2 per cent average increase in operating funds for universities, colleges & other post-secondary institutions, a modest funding increase that does not keep pace with needed supports for teaching & learning. [Daryl Mitchell / Flickr]](/images/default-source/bulletin/a5-saskatchewan.jpg?sfvrsn=1 "A5-Saskatchewan.jpg")
The province is providing a 2 per cent average increase in operating funds for universities, colleges & other post-secondary institutions, a modest funding increase that does not keep pace with needed supports for teaching & learning. [Daryl Mitchell / Flickr]
Saskatchewan post-secondary institutions will be receiving increases in operating grants, according to the 2014–2015 provincial budget released on March 19. But academics are warning the average two per cent funding commitment outlined in the budget is not sufficient to counteract troubling trends.
“While a two per cent increase in the operating grant is welcome, it is not enough,” said Doug Chivers, chair of the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association. “We have been told that costs associated with university operations are increasing at a faster rate than increases to the operating grant.”
Students and university administrators also said they were disappointed important projects were overlooked in the “targeted investments in infrastructure” identified in budget 2014.
The University of Regina Student Union had asked for funding support of $14 million to complete a new student residence.
“That request was not met so now we are forced to reevaluate the timeline and progress of that project,” said union president Nathan Sgrazzuti.
Decisions on targeted initiatives and capital projects are also raising questions about the ways in which the government has allocated funding to universities throughout the province.
“The government is tying the hands of the U of S administration by targeting funds to particular uses,” says Chivers. “By restricting the use of government funding, it removes the autonomy of the university. It removes the flexibility necessary to use funding where it is most needed.”
Critics also said the government should be making student learning a priority by doing more to ease institution budget pressures, and ultimately students are bearing the burden of inadequate post-secondary investment as they face tuition hikes year over year.
“An investment in Saskatchewan universities is an investment in Saskatchewan students who choose a university education,” said Sylvain Rheault, president of the Saskatchewan Association of University Teachers.
“Universities are under financial strain and tuition is becoming a self-controlled means for institutions to offset increasing costs. A university education for Saskatchewan students is becoming less affordable and the quality is being impacted because the government is not funding universities appropriately.”