Students feel ignored by province’s suggestions for universities

A report from Nova Scotia Labour and Advanced Education outlines actions that are quite different from suggestions made after months of consultations with the province’s university presidents, student leaders, faculty and international students.

The final report of the Department of Labour and Advanced Education University System Visioning Consultations includes suggestions like capping tuition fees, giving international students quicker access to public healthcare, and increasing employment after graduation.

Yet the outcomes that the report recommends are very different from these suggestions – notably, the province wants to limit a tuition cap to students from Nova Scotia studying at in-province institutions.

According to The Chronicle Herald, Nova Scotia Labour and Advanced Education Minister Kelly Regan rationalized this because the government has no money to give to universities.

“Saying there’s no money for the main source of income for the province is pretty stupid,” says Amr ElKhashab, president of the Dalhousie International Students’ Association.

Ramz Aziz, president of the Dalhousie Student Union, agrees that he was confused by the disconnect between the suggestions made at the student government consultations and the outcomes that were announced in the report.

Aziz said that at the two student government consultations he attended, Regan left after 15 minutes for the first one, and after 30 minutes for the second one. The consultations were mainly with the deputy minister.

“It seems like a lot of the recommendations that came out of the consultations weren’t really addressed,” says Aziz. “[Regan] commented on the fact that students are also taxpayers and students are the ones being hurt, but no solutions to alleviate that.”

For instance, the report argues in that the university is a public good. It also mentions how many stakeholders are extremely concerned about student debt and the increasing cost of education.

Yet later in the report, it says that the university remains a part of the market and needs to price its services accordingly.

Now not only do international students worry about high tuition fees, but domestic students could start seeing their tuitions skyrocket. Aziz said that the students needn’t worry about high fee hikes next year—though there could be a three percent fee hike next year, as per usual—but after that, fees could be astronomical.

ElKhashab argues that the province isn’t taking advantage of the benefit that international students bring to them. International students can go to schools in other provinces or Europe not only for a much lower price, but also with greater job prospects.

“Dalhousie charges more than McGill. And McGill is a tier one university and Dalhousie is a tier three university—we should be realistic of the students who are willing to come here,” says ElKhashab.

“Why would I come to Halifax when I could go to study in Montreal for a better price and a better degree?”

Read: Higher Education Visioning Report