A coalition of university teachers, students and support staff in Nova Scotia are seeking equal standing in upcoming deliberations that will set the course for post-secondary education in the province for years to come.

“We are all aligned and everyone is saying the same thing; the proposed corporate model is not proper in a university setting,” said Marc La­moureux, president of the Association of Nova Scotia University Teachers, which along with several partners forms the Nova Scotia Post-Secon­dary Education Coalition.

Labour and Advanced Education Minister Kelly Regan announced Oct. 8 that a series of consultations on shaping “the future of the pro­vince’s university system,” would be used to “help develop a vision paper outlining the strategic, long-term direction for Nova Scotia’s univer­sities and the next memo­randum of understanding with universities.”

Her announcement follows the release earlier this year of the Ivany report on improving the economic outlook for the province.

Lamoureux said government has defined which groups will be in­vited to consult and that ANSUT has already met with officials to deli­ver the coalition’s input.

But he said he’s concerned the consultations aren’t transparent or fully inclusive, nor that the find­ings will be revealed, even though the opinions gathered are pur­port­edly to feed into meetings set for early 2015 to develop a new MOU.

“On the one hand, this is the first time we’ve had public consul­ta­tions taking place, which is pos­itive. But is this just a game de­sign­ed to say ‘we consulted?’ What we need is progressive discourse, with all ma­jor stakeholders at the table to dis­cuss sustainable funding, better manage­ment of the system and so on,” Lamoureux said.

Previous MOUs with the pro­vince’s universities have been negotiated largely in secret.

Lamoureux said the coalition has regularly presented successive pro­vincial governments with poll-
ing data from 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2014 indicating consistent and strong public support for a well-funded post-secon­dary system that incorporates meaningful direction from faculty, students and staff.

“Who should speak about univer­sity education? We think it should not just be university presidents. Their priorities are different from ours, and frankly some administrators are doing terrible jobs at managing money and other resources,” he added.

Nova Scotia is home to the most universities per capita in the country. While many have been targeted by criticism over burgeoning debt and questionable administrative spending, Lamoureux points to the Ivany report which highlights the provinces post-secondary institu­tions as catalysts for the kind of change needed to increase pro­vin­cial economic viability.

“But not if you starve the system. That is why we will continue to ask to meet directly with the minister. We will be heard.”