EDMONTON – After seeing funding cut by $147 million in budget 2013, post-secondary institutions in Alberta say their future seems a bit brighter following budget 2014.
“The budget laid some long-term building blocks,” said University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera.
“It was a good budget, and in the context of last year, quite frankly, it’s an outstanding budget,” added MacEwan University President Dr. David Atkinson.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Doug Horner announced that post-secondary institutions in Alberta will receive a total of more than $2.8 billion in 2014- 2015, which is a 5.5 per cent increase from last year.
“Alberta’s universities, colleges, and polytechs are a great source of pride for Alberta. With budget 2014 we will continue to place a high priority on advanced education, including entrepreneurship and innovation,” said Horner during the budget speech.
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The funding allows for 2,000 new full-time student spaces.
“I was very pleased that there was a recognition of the enrollment pressures and we got some funding to deal with enrollment pressures and some programs where there’s high demand,” said Samarasekera.
Between $50 million that was previously reinstated and the restoration of the Access to the Future Fund — which matches donations — funding has nearly been brought back to its 2013 level.
“It was a hard year, but it was an essential reset year,” said Minister of Innovation & Advanced Education Dave Hancock. “Now it’s not just about pouring money back in, it’s about really sort of targeting what are we going to do now to grow in the right ways and the right places.”
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But while the funding has improved, institutions say they’re still recovering from 2013. MacEwan University was forced to restructure and cut jobs, which Atkinson says will likely not be reversed.
“Last year was something we had not anticipated and it was a bit of a shot across the bow and, really, it kind of took the wind out of our sails,” Atkinson said. “If we have the flexibility (this year), then we’re going to put it into our academic program.”
But, both institutions are hopeful that the year ahead will be better than the one that’s passed.
“Anything that the government has given back to us over the course of this year is technically good news, because we weren’t expecting it,” said Atkinson.
“We’re in a good place moving forward, and I’m looking forward to really just the rebuilding that has to now take place,” added Samarasekera.
With files from Ross Neitz, Global News.
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