President discusses budget cuts with Senate

President’s Remarks

The day after the Government of Quebec announced significant cuts to university funding for the current fiscal year, Concordia’s President Alan Shepard took the news to Senate and explained how the university plans to respond.

Shepard said the government’s announcement came as a disappointing surprise, and with more than half of the fiscal year already completed, it will cause significant difficulties for the university. Concordia has already had to revise its budget three times this fiscal year to account for changes to tuition fees.

The announced 5.2 per cent decrease in government spending on higher education for this fiscal year translates to approximately $11.5 million less in Concordia’s operating budget. The details surrounding how the the cuts will play out is still unclear, though, because the provincial government had also promised to compensate Quebec’s universities for the loss in tuition revenue due to the cancelled tuition increases, which amounts to approximately $3 million for Concordia.

While Shepard said the university will do its utmost to maintain the quality of teaching and learning, he insisted the dramatic budget cut “will touch every area of the university in some way.” As well, the university’s financial administrators are already trying to figure out how to prepare for next year “when we will have less money to function with than we do today,” Shepard added.

Representatives of the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec (CREPUQ) will participate in a Summit on Higher Education planned for February. As Shepard explained, although the members of CREPUQ are upset about the cuts they see as retroactive, they also believe in dialogue. The issue of funding for higher education promises to be at the top of the agenda at the summit.

Shepard and Concordia’s Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning, Ollivier Dyens will attend an upcoming meeting on the issue of accessibility to higher education, one of four themed meetings being held in preparation for the upcoming summit.

The university will begin a series of conversations in the new year to discuss how best to deal with the budget shortfall, Shepard said. The university’s Board of Governors will also hold a special meeting in January to review and approve any immediate decisions that have to be made.

Academic Plan Update

Concordia’s Interim Provost, Lisa Ostiguy, told Senate that the Quebec Government’s announced funding reduction makes it challenging to report on the implementation of the university’s new Academic Plan.

In spite of this most recent development, the implementation of some priorities identified in the Academic Plan has already begun, including increased funding for teaching assistants and top graduate students, as well as major investments in library resources.

Ostiguy said the plan calls for increased support for recruiting top students, increasing research opportunities for undergraduates, and designing innovative curricula. The provost also said a working group from within the Academic Planning and Priorities Committee will begin to examine how accessibility is defined at Concordia.

During her report, the provost indicated that there were not many students participating on Academic Plan working groups. To this end, Ostiguy will hold a breakfast meeting with student senators in January to discuss ideas on how to get more students involved.

Capping off her report to Senate, Ostiguy said a new webpage for the plan will be available in the new year. Senators will be informed when they will have access, and all updates will be added to the site.

Exam deferrals

Senate approved a motion presented by Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning, Ollivier Dyens, on behalf of the Academic Programs Committee, to change the wording in the university’s undergraduate calendar regarding the granting of second exam deferrals to more accurately reflect the decisions that have been made by the University Examinations Committee over the past two years. 

The wording will now explain that second exam deferrals are not normally granted, but that a retroactive DISC (discontinued) might be granted instead. This will allow a student to retake the course if necessary and complete the exam within the usual timeframe, and not at a time far removed from when the rest of the course work was completed.

Related links:
•    Concordia Senate
•    “Senate approves research unit” — NOW, November 6, 2012 (November Senate Notes)