More on the national education front

“Private university? Don’t be vulgar: A U.S. newspaper notes strange Canadian phenomenon: ‘an almost philosophical opposition to private universities’,” by Erin Millar, Macleans (May 12/08).

 

Meritus, eh?

Apollo Group Inc., owners of the University of Phoenix, are opening a branch in N.B., to be called Meritus University. Initially, three business programmes will be offered [source].

One gem: ” New Brunswick is an attractive location because of its positive regulatory and business environment.”

What’s not to like? Well, see here, here, here, and here.

 

Scott Adams has his finger on the pulse …

 

Readers

may be interested in taking a survey on the impact of the PSE report.

 

Nothing to do with anything. Really. (revised)

 

Hi ho!

This just in:

Greg Kealey To Assume New Role as Provost

I am pleased to announce that  Dr.  Greg Kealey will become UNB’s first Provost effective July 1, 2008 to December 31, 2011.  The Board of Governors has approved the addition of a new Provost mandate to Dr. Kealey’s continuing position as Vice-President Research during this time.

As Provost, Dr. Kealey will assume enhanced responsibility for academic leadership during what is expected to be a period of accelerated change and transition in the next few years.

Later this spring, the Provincial Government should announce its plans for a new integrated and innovative post secondary education system. Based on the recommendations of the Post Secondary Education Working Group, I anticipate an ambitious agenda ranging from greater cooperation among New Brunswick universities to a new funding model that potentially ties future provincial grants to strategic plans developed by each institution. UNB will be at the centre of this agenda, and will require an overall academic leader to coordinate university-wide academic planning within our strategic planning process and to develop new and stronger academic relations with other post secondary institutions.

The recently appointed Commission on Inter-Campus Relations has a mandate to make recommendations for long-term governance and administrative mechanisms which could result in changes to existing structures and the UNB Act. These changes would take some time to implement and the Provost will fill the immediate need for overall academic leadership during this bridging period.

In recent years,  UNB  has realigned the traditional Vice-President Academic function and distributed academic responsibilities among two campus Vice-Presidents and the Vice-President Research. We expect to appoint new campus Vice-Presidents who will take office in the Summer of 2008.

The Provost will act in concert with me and the reconstituted team of Vice-Presidents to lead academic planning and the administration of academic matters of university-wide significance in the period ahead. The Provost role will be reviewed after three years.

Dr. Kealey has significant experience at UNB and other Canadian universities, and has demonstrated effective academic leadership on both campuses in the areas of research and graduate studies.  I am delighted that he has agreed to take on an enhanced mandate as Provost at this critical time. I hope you will join with me in supporting him in his expanded role.

John McLaughlin
President and Vice-Chancellor

 

Wondering who to vote for, for Mayor?

The candidates’ answers to the following question don’t knock any of them out of the running:

[here]: UNBSJ was placed on the chopping block by the provincial government last fall, and while Premier Shawn Graham recently scrapped those plans, concerns for the university’s future still remain. What role does UNBSJ play in our community?

Court: I am an educator and I support education at all levels. My own life has been greatly enriched by my graduate and post-graduate studies. I supported UNBSJ at the rallies. I walked with faculty and students to preserve the future status of the university. There is no city in Canada the size of Saint John that does not have a university. All cities strive to have a true university.

They recognized that a broadly educated population base is at the heart of a city’s growth and vibrancy. UNBSJ has contributed inestimably to our community. It gives our city an international flavour and provides our residents with opportunities to pursue affordable post-secondary education. It is a magnet for attracting immigrants and new job opportunities for the city.

UNBSJ also provides many recreational and cultural opportunities for residents.

Ferguson: This is the jurisdiction of the province however it certainly affects us locally. The university plays a permanent role as the centre for educational opportunity. UNBSJ creates an educational base for liberal arts, science, engineering and business. This educational base will create career readiness for a young person. A university degree provides a foundation for all other learning whether an individual seeks further education at university, college or a technical school. A university also adds to the vibrancy of a city where young people want to live and learn.

Hooton: UNBSJ hugely impacts the social and economics of our community development. The university’s role is as an important contributor to the culture and vibrancy of the city. UNBSJ’s contribution is being made through the thousands of alumni who work as teachers, lawyers, nurses, entrepreneurs, etc… and through the faculty and staff that contribute to community organizations as board members, volunteers and research resources to the community.

McFarlane: I was an adamant supporter of UNBSJ and was pleased with the premier’s response to our feelings. I believe UNBSJ pays a key role in several aspects of our community including: economic, social, youth retention, new idea creation and population growth. My Saint John includes UNBSJ.

Richardson: If elected I will push and fight to keep UNBSJ funded by the province. This issue has bonded many citizens of Saint John to make a stand. As a fellow citizen that has spoken against the removal of UNBSJ, my commitment is real and deep. UNBSJ is an important part of our city and community and should stay in Saint John. As mayor I will continue to represent the side of Saint John citizens fighting for UNBSJ to stay in the city.

 

Budget(s)

Acting VP-Academic Jane Fritz sent a memo to the UNB Fredericton campus on April 23 about the 2008-2009 budget. Today, we on the UNB Saint John campus received a parallel memo from Dr. Kathryn Hamer which concludes on a sober note:

The Saint John campus has a long tradition of accomplishing much with few resources. We are at a critical juncture, and much will depend on our commitment to academic quality while adapting quickly to a constantly changing external environment that, despite the uncertainties associated with change, can provide opportunities and support positive evolution.

 

The editor

will be out of the country for the next three weeks teaching a course, but has been assured that she will have regular access to the interwebs and so you, dear reader, should notice nary a difference.

 

Well at least we’re not alone.

A thoughtful blog post by Bert Olivier, professor of philosophy at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, on the roles of universities and professional training institutions. A sample paragraph:

What I am talking about is what seems to me to be the drift towards a narrowing down of the “function” of a university in the traditional, constantly self-renewing sense, towards an institution which merely serves the needs of the community as determined by current economic and social needs, by focusing mainly on the training of “professionals”. The fact that, since the merger of the PE Technikon, Vista PE and the University of Port Elizabeth, the institution (and others like it) has been known as a “comprehensive institution”, instead of a university, plain and simple (despite the fact that it bears the name of a university). The question that this raises is: Does the training of professionals at such a tertiary institution preclude the maintenance of the character of a university as an institution that encourages and cultivates critical thinking, or does it presuppose this character?

 

Keeping them down on the farm

[cross-posted to La maison]

Okay, here’s one thing I don’t get: during the PSE debacle this government could not get enough of the concept of “transferability”: making it easy for students to transfer from one programme or institution to another seemed practically their most important goal for higher education. And yet with K–12 education, they are embracing a plan that would put N.B. children completely out of step with children in other provinces, and so make it all that much more difficult for them to relocate (which is not doubt part of the appeal), but also making it difficult, as well as unappealing, for people considering relocating here.

Why don’t we just build a giant wall? It worked, for awhile, in Berlin.

Think of all the construction jobs.

 

Strange times; strange alliances

One of the most common neo-con criticisms of academia is that it is a hotbed of (left-wing) liberalism. Many would be guilty as charged.

Imagine then, the situation in New Brunswick. The strongest advocates for the liberal arts and the core principles underlying a university education come from the Conservative side of the political spectrum. Our harshest critics are also our best allies. The Liberal Party, as noted by Robert MacLeod, President of the Progressive Conservative Party of NB, has for some 15 months created havoc with post-secondary education and are on the cusp of unleashing yet another volley our way:

Where is the Liberal PSE plan?
New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal
Apr 26/08, A11
Robert MacLeod

New Brunswickers have been shocked by a number of decisions made by the Shawn Graham Liberal government over the past few months. Ill-advised choices on silviculture, French second language education, health care, electricity rates, buying new luxury airplanes and supporting golf courses owned by friends. I could go on and on. But the beginning of the current tailspin this government is in can be traced directly back to last September when they misread the mood of the public and introduced their post-secondary education reforms.When the Liberal’s PSE Commissioners stated that they wanted to shut down UNBSJ, as well as the Université de Moncton campuses in Edmundston and Shippagan, and turn them into polytechnic schools, the reaction from New Brunswickers was loud and clear - no way!

Yet despite the public outcry, the letters to the editor, the public demonstrations and other forms of protest, Shawn Graham and his five Saint John area ministers remained silent and hoped the issue would just go away. This silence was not lost on those in the Saint John region, who felt, and still feel, that their elected representatives were silenced by the Premier, and that they had been abandoned by their cabinet ministers. It was only after weeks of protest that the Premier announced a second commission to study the results of the first commission and to determine how they might somehow get out of the mess.

So here we are nearly 15 months after the first PSE commission was created, and nearly six months after the Premier created the second one, and we still have no idea what this government plans to do with the post-secondary education system in New Brunswick. There were some indications at the end of January when the Premier delivered his State of the Province Address. He told New Brunswickers some of the things that his second PSE Commission would recommend. Would this not indicate that they had completed their review and were close to having a finished document? That was nearly three months ago. Why the delay?

 

Sad day in post-secondary education

See the press release from CBC:

CBU Eliminating 33 Jobs

Cape Breton University is cutting 11 faculty and 22 other staff positions as it prepares for a projected decline in enrolment.

The university’s board of governors passed the 2008-09 budget Friday.

School officials say they expect five per cent fewer students next year. With a tuition freeze in place, that means less money coming in.

University president John Harker said the job cuts will not affect students.

“We haven’t cut any academic programs at all and we’ve combined services rather than deny them to anyone,” he said.

Harker said the school will offer early retirement incentives to eligible staff over the next few weeks, though layoffs are a possibility.

Mary Keating, president of the faculty association at CBU, said she’s pleased with the planning process the university undertook in preparing for these cuts.

However, she wonders whether more job losses are coming. She said she abstained on the budget vote because it’s not clear what cuts could be on the way in the next couple of years.

“There are some units in some departments that are basically where they can be, but they can’t get much smaller,” Keating said.

Ian Lindsay, president of the CBU students’ union, voted in favour of the budget.

“I think as a whole, the cutbacks were just. And I think the fact that there were no programs taken away, I think it was a great day for CBU students,” Lindsay said.

 

N.B. child invited for tea

 

The government taketh but does not give back

Our elected officials in the provincial government are almost giddy in anticipation of cashing in on development in Saint John. The projections for revenue generation from the energy hub escalate almost daily. And yet, does the government for a moment think about investing in Saint John?

The recently released budget for UNB suggests not. As usual, UNBSJ will be receiving far fewer government dollars than UNBF. The amount of government monies devoted to the operating budgets of the two institutions differ widely: UNBSJ will obtain 47% of its operating budget ($31.1 million) from the government while UNBF will receive 63% of its operating budget ($128.9 million) from the government (more information).

How is this fair?

 

We passed on the stairs

Another college achieves university status, this time Kwantlen College University in B.C.

Heidi Chik, who graduated in 2006, said the new designation will help future students when they apply for jobs outside of Canada.
“In Asia they value the name, ‘university,’” she said. “They don’t know Kwantlen in Hong Kong. Now you can bring your degree and they’ll see ‘university’ on it and recognize it.”

Hey, they keep telling us it’s all about the branding.

 

Well, Duh!

I see in the morning blatt that Marty Klinkenberg has published a rambling monlogue by KellyLamrock in which the Education Minister states an obvious untruth. “I’ve been called many things in politics, but stupid isn’t one of them” claims Lamrock. Now that is an odd claim, because I have heard that said about him several times recently. Perhaps Minister Lamrock just isn’t listening.

[Ed. Sorry I took so long to post this.]

 

The front door’s locked so come in through the back

Am I and the lovely Dr. Lindsay the only ones getting anxious about all this Michael Shattock enthusiasm? I mean, just read this.

 

Will we be next?

As reported in the Times Higher Education Supplement (Jan 24/08), the plans introduced two years ago to offer students in the UK compressed degrees, funded by the private sector, are expanding beyond Derby, Leeds Metropolitan, Staffordshire, Northampton, and Medway Partnership:

In the annual grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England, John Denham, the Universities Secretary, set out his “ambitious and groundbreaking” plans for the sector.

The rise of degrees part-funded by employers and tailored to their individual needs; part-time and flexible courses; ‘compressed’ two-year honours degrees; and vocational foundation degrees are the way to meet the agenda, he said.

Mr Denham added that there should be 5,000 degree places partly funded by employers in 2008-09, 10,000 the following year, and 20,000 in three years.

But even if these targets were met, there would still be “a long way to go,” Mr Denham said. “We will look for more substantial growth in this kind of provision from 2011. This in part will mean a new approach to funding … But the need for innovation and cultural change goes well beyond that.”

“Providers will need a growing appreciation of the requirements of employers … to provide and adapt courses swiftly in response to demand (and) to offer provision tailored to individual businesses,” Mr Denham said.

Acknowledging that the next three years would be a period of “controlled experimentation,” he said that there should be 100,000 students on two-year foundation degrees by 2010, and more two-year honours degrees. (Source)

Interestingly, when UK universities first began offering students a compressed option, students were faced with paying double the usual tuition fees for the privilege of taking the “fast track” (see BBC News).

How does this relate to post-secondary education in New Brunswick?

Michael Shattock, one of the UK’s bona fide gurus of post-secondary education, lectured to a crowd at the WU Centre (UNB-F) on 16 April and to another assembly in Saint John two days later on university and community partnerships. He is best known as the former Registrar of Warwick University who headed up the “transformation” of his home institution during the Thatcher cut-and-slash years. He played a big role in transforming a university on the skids into an entrepreneurial powerhouse whose motto is “philosophers interpret the world, the point is to reinvent it” (see Reinventing Education at Warwick). However, as pointed out by Simon Marginson, Warwick’s transformation was made possible by the fact that it had almost four decades of government support before going entrepreneurial and that funding, direction, and institutional stability account for the entrepreneurial success story. As an interesting aside, Marginson also points out that: “A Cambridge approach would not have worked at Warwick; nor can a Warwick or Cambridge strategy create a doctoral university out of a two-year community college in Canada” (Minerva, 44, 2006, 80).

Reviews of Shattock’s work are largely positive, especially his view that academics must be at the core of university governance, but it has been pointed out by someone more knowledgable than I that there is something in his work for everyone — i.e. for those advocating commercialization of the academy and a strong non-academic management team, as well as for those sympathetic to a more traditional view of academic governance. I am, however, a little uneasy with the notion that aspiring university administrators can obtain a master’s degree from the Institute of Education, University of London, due to his initiative, and it gives one pause that his accolades include service in 1987 on a “team established by the University Grants Committee that effectively closed the bankrupt University College Cardiff; [and] in 1994 he chaired a public inquiry into the affairs of Derby College that led to the dismissal of the governing body. He has also been an adviser to the parliamentary select committee on education; see above announcement regarding compressed degrees” (Times Higher Education Supplement, Nov 2/01).

Lastly, (in an already lengthy post) he chaired the OECD panel that produced the “Review of Higher Education in Ireland” (2004) recommending an end to the “Free Fees Policy” for undergraduate education (Recommendation #50). This recommendation reflects his long held view that no government is “able to pay fully for the transition from elite to mass and from mass to near universal education.” (online reprint, THES, 1999).

For those interested in internationalization — and who isn’t in the world of post-secondary education — Shattock has a clear position: “In my opinion setting up overseas campuses is a strategic mistake. They involve a huge commitment of time and resources, and they are a diversion from the core business of running your university.” He and five other academics with experience in China-UK partnerships put together British universities in China: The reality beyond the rhetoric (see AGORA: the Forum for Culture and Education; Anthea Lipsett, “Academics urge caution over Chinese collaboration,” EducationGuardian.co.uk, Dec 6/07). Although they feel an obligation to point out that their arguments do not constitute anti-Chinese sentiment, their disclaimer seems misplaced given that it is crystal clear that their main concern is that the Chinese government is no longer interested in partnerships with second ranked western institutions. The “problem” is that their efforts in China are being rebuffed as top tiered universities cash in on the “customer base” (see “Expert warns ‘naive’ British.” THES, Dec 7/07).

Political issues within Chinese universities are also raised as problematic, but interestingly enough Shattock implies elsewhere that the situation in the UK is not so very different. He warns that whatever happens within academe, we will not return to the 1960s; rather we seem to be moving towards “stronger and more authoritarian internal governance and management structure and greater state control” (J. Ed. Policy 14.3, 1999, 282). He especially dislikes the latter tendency. Who wouldn’t? But as one of the warriors who combatted Thatcherism (successfully) he proposes using incentives to encourage institutional efforts in obtaining external funding, creating a cabinet style governing body, and providing flexibility so as to allow faculty recruitment and remuneration reflective of specific institutional missions (see recommendations 8,9,10,12, 17, 19, “Review of Higher Education in Ireland,” 2004).

Ah… our future unfolds before us. We’re reliving the Thatcher years!

 

Coming soon to a wall near you

Finalists of Vice-President’s photo challenge announced.