Universities across Manitoba have been seeing a decline in the number of staff found on their campuses.
Due to causes such as retirement or personal reasons professors are leaving the profession but the universities cannot afford to replace them. Scott Grills, vice-president (academic and research) of Brandon University in Brandon, Man., chalks this up to “budgetary challenges.”
In Manitoba, revenue for universities comes from two main sources: tuition and government grants. The problem is these are not providing sufficient funds for universities to fill the vacancies made when staff members leave, according to Scott Grills.
At the University of Winnipeg, senior executive officer Dan Hurley said they have been practicing “vacancy management” for the past two fiscal years. By leaving certain positions open, the university is able to save money that would otherwise be used as salary.
“It’s a way to avoid layoffs and to balance budgets,” explained Hurley. “Basically, the more students we have results in the less positions we leave vacant.”
The U of W has had a 2% increase in overall enrolment for this coming year as well as increased tuition by 5% following a 10-year tuition freeze, said Hurley. Manitoba still has one of the lowest tuition fees in Canada.
Scott Grills said with vacancy management, students suffer the consequences with the number of courses available. Fewer staff results in fewer classes being taught.
James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, said that often a university will hire contract academic staff who would teach only one course or only teach for one term because it saves money.
“They are good teachers . . . but they do the same work [as full-time staff] for less money,” he said.
Still, when a university has to determine which courses to leave vacant, certain criteria must be met. Hurley said they weigh the impact it will have on the students.
“Something has got to give on either tuition or government grants for us to meet our requirements,” he said, “but we do the best we can for our students.”