"Fredericton’s St. Thomas University could cease to exist and Sackville’s Mount Allison University could be privatized under scenarios the Holt government is considering for cuts to post-secondary education.
A list of ideas circulated to university presidents at a meeting last week asks whether a province of 860,000 people with declining enrolment needs more than 20 university and community college campuses.
It also proposes ending provincial funding to Mount Allison to have it become “an independent Canadian premiere university” — in other words, a private institution.
...
STU president Nauman Farooqi said in an email to the university community that “in times of fiscal challenges it is easy to overlook the positive economic and social impacts of higher education.
He said educating students for rewarding careers, contributing to the provincial economy and attracting students who stay in the province after they graduate are “just some of the downstream benefits that repay the initial investment many times over.
In an email to faculty, staff and students last week, Mount Allison president Ian Sutherland confirmed he met with provincial officials and learned of “the potential for changes” to university funding.
Many details still need to be clarified,” he wrote, adding that the university “remains committed to constructive collaboration with government and the broader post-secondary sector as discussions regarding the province’s fiscal position continue to evolve.
Sutherland called the university “foundational to the strength and long-term sustainability of New Brunswick and Canada.
Mount Allison spokesperson Jonelle Mace said the university had not received “any formal proposal or directive” about an end to its publicly funded status, but she confirmed the idea had been raised by the province."
source: Holt Liberals look at merging, privatizing some universities
If Premier Susan Holt is focussed on cutting expenses in the budgeting process for New Brunswick she might also seriously want to consider removing those expensive, bureaucratic, undemocratic, and highly wasteful Regional Service Commissions that were inflicted on the people of this province and have grown in cost and size "explosively" since they were originally dreamt up, installed at such a great cost and effort.. this is an issue that was brought up and discussed with the candidates at the debate organized by Jonelle Mace in Dorchester N.B. before the last election in the province.
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