Alberta advanced education minister extends deadline for Athabasca University to move staff to town

By Staff The Canadian Press

Posted August 31, 2022 7:57 pm

Updated August 31, 2022 7:58 pm

1 min read

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Demetrios Nicolaides, Minister of Advanced Education is sworn into office, in Edmonton on Tuesday April 30, 2019. The president of Alberta’s online Athabasca University says the province’s demand that the school relocate 500 staffers to the tiny rural town is so self-defeatingly backward it threatens to put the institution “on the path to ruin.” . THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Alberta’s advanced education minister has extended a deadline for a distance learning university to move more staff to the small town where it is headquartered.

Demetrios Nicolaides says he’s granted a brief extension for Athabasca University to comply with his decree to move 500 staff to the town the institution is named for.

He has threatened to withhold the school’s $3.4-million monthly grant if the school fails to comply.

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Nicolaides did not specify a new deadline.

The university has resisted the demand, saying it will make it harder to recruit top talent and waste money, time and other resources.

Nicolaides says he believes that Athabasca University can excel while strengthening ties to the community and driving employment and economic growth the region.