Deadline looms for Dal to prove it’s aligned with provincial goals or lose millions

Dalhousie University could lose up to $6.2 million in funding or be forced to reorganize programs if it can’t prove alignment with the provincial government’s goals by Oct. 15.

Bill 12, new provincial legislation enacted in March, grants the Nova Scotia government powers over the finances, research, academics and governance of the province’s 10 universities.

Part of the new law requires universities to submit a report to the government “[identifying] a strategic connection between the social and economic priorities of the Government and the university’s funding decisions.”

If the province decides that the university’s plans aren’t up to its standards, it could withhold provincial funding or force schools to reorganize programs. 

Before Bill 12, funding reviews and decisions were conducted internally. Dal received $236 million of provincial funding for this year, only $6.2 million of which can be withheld through the new academic program review.

Read more: Provincially mandated program reviews are ‘problematic,’ says Dal faculty

David Westwood, president-elect of the Dalhousie Faculty Association, the union representing almost 1,000 Dal faculty, says he’s concerned that these new government-run academic program reviews could threaten university autonomy.

He says there has not been enough communication surrounding the upcoming program review and its looming deadline. 

“It’s hard to feel a particular way when you don’t know an awful lot about what’s going on,” says Westwood. “It’s been a very murky process all along.” 

Previous to Bill 12, funding reviews went through the university senate. 

“[Our programs] are already reviewed very intensely on a regular basis,” says Westwood. “That’s nothing new, that’s something we’re very committed to.”

“It is concerning that governments are making funding contingent on universities dancing to the government’s priorities,” he says.

Dal’s communications director, Janet Bryson, said Dal has used this academic program review process to take a comprehensive, evidence-informed look at the university’s academic programs and portfolio in an email statement to the Dalhousie Gazette from Janet Bryson, Dal’s communications director.

“The work is being undertaken in alignment with Dalhousie’s established academic quality-assurance and governance processes,” said Bryson. “We strive to do this always.” 

Bill 12 allows the provincial government, currently Tim Houston’s Progressive Conservatives, to appoint up to half of each school’s board of governors members and force universities into a “revitalization plan” if they deem the school isn’t doing well enough. It also lets the advanced education minister, now Brian Wong, “determine the key research priorities of the Province.”

Chloee Sampson, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia’s Department of Advanced Education, said in a statement to the Gazette that the academic program review is an important tool to respond to financial realities, while ensuring the long-term sustainability and quality of post-secondary education in the province.  

Sampson said the reviews are designed to “ensure programs across Nova Scotia’s universities remain relevant and aligned with student demand and labour market needs.”

Under Bill 12, the current academic program review is being performed by the American consulting company Huron Consulting Group. The decision to use Huron has drawn criticism from professors across the province.

“[Huron] positions themselves to service the university sector, it’s quite lucrative,” says Westwood. “They’re very much about advising conservative governments primarily on austerity, how to make cuts, how to reduce costs, but not a lot of focus on quality.” 

Matthew Reichertz, president of the Association of Nova Scotia University Teachers, which represents faculty at seven universities but not Dal, says he is concerned about the impacts of government reviews on university spending.

“Making decisions that are going to have fundamental impacts on universities and on the economy of the cities and the towns around the universities needs more thought than … a four-year [election] cycle,” says Reichertz.

“One of the more important parts of [Bill 12] is the way that the government is laying the groundwork to be able to either force universities to make changes themselves, or to actually force change on universities.”