To counter misinfo, the FT suggests we have “three broad complementary options,” including “subsidisation of the creation and spread of reliable information”—ie what we know as publicly funded universities. #cdnpse #nspse
www.ft.com/content/c1af...
“Although reforms projected decreases in approved new study permits of 10% or less in Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick… all experienced a 59% or greater decrease in approvals in 2024 compared with 2023.” #nspse #cdnpse 🤦♀️ www.canada.ca/en/auditor-g...
Solidarity to striking students!
We know the prov. gov. at best doesn’t give a single shrew-sized shit about #nspse, & at worst actively works against it (despite many of its MLAs having benefited from lower tuition, smaller classes, etc.) so I hope this unprecedented student action has an effect.
So many of the cuts harm people for the sake of very small amounts 😢. But I'll note too that it cuts big $$ from #nspse resources (incl NSGS). The prov signed "bilats" with univs based on then-existing resources. I sure hope some univ lawyers are looking into the legal implications of that.
Tim Houston hates Nova Scotia. He’s also not to be trusted: do his cuts to foundational @dalhousie.bsky.social and other universities violate the bilateral agreements he recently signed? If so, #nspse presidents should tell him to stick his program reviews straight up his Paradise Papers…
PB Shelley, in 1821, on narrow utilitarianism: "The rich have become richer, and the poor have become poorer; and the vessel of the state is driven between . . . anarchy and despotism. Such are the effects which must ever flow from an unmitigated exercise of the calculating faculty." #nsgov #nspse
The townhall, "Protecting Postsecondary Education in Nova Scotia," has been moved online because of the impending storm (thanks to the organizers for arranging this on such short notice!). #nspse #cdnpse
Details and the link to join are at cocogov.org/blog/townhall/.
#StormChips not included. :-)
Just by way of illustration: the Dal admin is holding info sessions on the province’s schedule h. If half of full-time faculty attend, that’s 250 hours lost to teaching and research. That’s one #nspse univ and one small sched h action, and doesn’t include staff and part-time faculty hours lost.
Instead, NSgov is requiring Dal to spend 💰💰 to assess all of its programs all at once (usually done in rotation & grouped by unit, so all of a dept’s programs are assessed every 7 years, incl external review, as is standard in #cdnpse), and create a master’s in real estate.
Priorities? #nspse 😢
The Canada Social Transfer is supposed to support PSE and “is allocated on an equal per capita cash basis to provide comparable treatment for all Canadians” (www.canada.ca/en/departmen...).
#nspse also earns federal 💰💰 for research.
Universities are national, not just provincial.
Had an intrusive, likely naive #nspse thought. Given deep interconnections b/w NS law firms, uni boards & the province—meaning appearance if not reality of CoI—is there a 3rd-party, out-of-province review of whether province-mandated program reviews are even legal under our multiple University Acts?
I’m not thrilled about increasing tuition, but kudos to Ontario for acknowledging that there’s a crisis in universities caused by under-resourcing and recognizing that “Postsecondary education is one of Ontario’s most important long-term investments.” #cdnpse
#nspse? <taps microphone> #nsgov?
Poster for the event with the information in the post plus an image of the provincial flag and the notice “hosted by the Coalition for Collegial Governance” and the URL cocogov.org/blog/townhall
Townhall at the Halifax Central Library, 23 February (Monday), starting at 6:30 pm: “Protecting Post-Secondary Education in Nova Scotia.” #nspse #nspoli #cdnpse
This speaks to the imperative to hold univ administrations accountable for their non-academic spending--on travel, on consultants, on lawyers, on PR, etc. Student tuition dollars and public funding should go to academic activities, not making some administrator's day a little easier. #cdnpse #nspse
This is 🎯. #cdnpse #nspse #nspoli
Cutting education hurts students.
I’ll also add that at least one faculty contract in the province has clauses to ensure that, in a financial crisis, the core mission of the university—teaching, research, and other public needs—will be protected.
Happy to have helped with this DFA statement (pdf) on the egregious NS provincial program reviews of Uni’s. This is pronounced overstep by the province, & completely incompetent at that. Our provincial and certain uni leaders seem hellbent on breaking #nspse. #KeepDalStrong @dalfaculty.bsky.social
I certainly agree (at nearly 30 years in #cdnpse) but would place significant fault on provincial and federal funding decisions. However, the article I posted is about provincial program reviews in #nspse, with little to do with that issue.
This should send chills down the spines not just of those who work in #nspse, but every citizen who wants to see our communities succeed.
Also, @dalhousie.bsky.social is doing and end-run around Senate on these provincial “reviews.” I asked why at a recent Senate meeting & was given no real answer.
Public post-secondary everywhere is in trouble, but #nspse is rushing to a sudden and steep cliff, with the feds and province pushing them the whole way over.
Following the allegory through, that doesn’t end well for the country or province, either.
An educated populace is just that bad, it seems.
New Jersey program to reenrol students who left university before getting their degree is not only helping those individuals, but also generating $ for universities and economic growth for the state.
Meanwhile in NS, Tim Houston is looking to shutter programs and make #nspse less accessible.
Reposted with the #nspse hashtag
I fully suspect the phrase “institutional autonomy” to become a popular one in discussions of #nspse in the next few months as the province tries to wield its ham-fist as if it’s iron. What remains to be seen is which side senior admin takes on the matter.
In honour of @cupe3912.bsky.social and all the unions in #nspse and beyond who pushed back and smacked down overweening management and their consultant handlers this year:
#Solidarity with @cupe3912.bsky.social
#nslab #nspse #canlab #cdnpse
Folks interested in the Dalhousie budget might want to take a look at @dalfaculty.bsky.social reviews of the budget since 2013: www.dfa.ns.ca/issues/revie... . Also see the July 2019 president's message re: the Senate oversight Dal used to have (www.dfa.ns.ca/news/preside...). #KeepDalStrong #nspse
“What’s happening at Dalhousie, what’s happening in contract negotiations at other universities ... is that faculty are trying as best they can to raise concerns about how the quality of education has really suffered because of lack of public funding,” Robinson said. #cdnpse #nspse #KeepCanadaStrong
If President Brooks and crew laid off staff because of this Nous/Uniforum nonsense, then I hope @nsgeu.bsky.social is looking into it. #nspse #cdnpse #PublicFundsIntoPrivateHands
#solidarity with @dalfaculty.bsky.social
#canlab #nslab #cdnpse #nspse
