CALGARY- Mount Royal University’s Board of Governors has finalized $14 million in program and staffing cuts as it deals with the fallout from provincial cuts to post-secondary funding.
Eight programs in all will be cancelled, including music performance and theatre art diplomas, disability studies diploma and several certificate programs including journalism, forensic studies, and aging and perinatal studies.
The number of students admitted to programs such as nursing and broadcasting will be reduced.
The university says students already enrolled in the cancelled programs will be allowed to complete their studies.
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MRU President David Docherty says while the worst is over, there could be more challenges to come.
“I think this has been the toughest one, this has been the largest one,” Docherty says. “I think that one of the things we have to start to do now is look ahead and see what other revenue operations do we have?”
The province announced a seven per cent cut to post-secondary education funding in its March budget, when MRU had been expecting a two per cent increase.
Parents pleaded with the board Monday night to keep some of the programs open.
Linda Sunderland is a Disability Studies advocate whose son has fetal alcohol syndrome.
“Without the services we get from the people that graduate from this program, we don’t know what we’re going to do in the future,” says Sunderland.
“Harrison is a very difficult child to manage and he requires a lot of care,” she adds. “He needs a lot of one-on-one direct eye contact all the time and without that he couldn’t live with us.”
MRU will cut the equivalent of 63 full-time jobs. It says many of those positions are already vacant.
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