The Winnipeg University School Association left a fictitious consultation on the Progressive Conservative government’s accountability framework after high school last week. President Peter Miller said the provincial staff behaved as if they were all involved in a performance-based model, which is not true. “We decided that this was not really a consultation as far as we understood, because it started from the assumption that we agreed with this process, that it would make sense to apply performance measurements,” he said. “The three of us [with UWFA] “I really disagreed with that, and we wanted to come there and say that and tell them why, in the opinion of our experts as professors, this was a bad idea for the universities and we were not given this opportunity.” He said he felt the government was talking to the faculty union to claim that it had consulted with them, even though the process was flawed from the beginning.
Connecting the industry with work needs
The PC government has repeatedly signaled its intention to explore some form of performance-based funding to fund higher education in the province. The government has said it wants to adapt universities and colleges to meet labor market needs, but has not clarified how that might be. The majority of American states have developed a funding model of this style. They tend to be based on measures such as graduation rates and the number of degrees awarded, and not just enrollment. Ontario recently implemented a similar model, with Alberta providing 5% of each institution’s funding for its performance. In May, the province launched a consultation process on an accountability framework, which could include performance measurements and the development of a relationship between performance and funding. The government has stressed that it has not yet made any decisions. The University of Winnipeg faculty withdrew from a recent meeting with the county due to a consultation process that it says was inadequate. (Justin Deeley / CBC) If a new financial model is really needed, Miller said, the government should open its consultation session by explaining the problems that exist and why a results-based approach is needed. “Manitoba, on the other hand, puts the cart in front of the horse and says, ‘Here’s something we’ll do without even suggesting why we would do it,’” Miller said. “What’s wrong with the post-secondary at the moment that it is just trying to evaluate and solve something that could not be answered?” Miller said he never got an answer to that question at the meeting. The government has stated that it wants to strengthen the oversight of its post-secondary institutions following a report by the Auditor General in 2020. The report encouraged the creation of “results-based performance metrics” to monitor financial and operational performance, but did not provide a framework. To do this. A provincial spokesman did not answer a question about the government’s approach to the consultation. The consultation meeting last Friday was sparsely attended. The University of Manitoba Schools Association says her email invitation was found in her spam folder, and the Brandon University faculty member was unable to attend. And the Manitoba Association of School Associations – which represents the faculty at four universities – was never invited. After receiving a link a few minutes before the meeting, MOFA sent an email indicating to a civil servant that he would be present. They withdrew from the meeting shortly after it started, said MOFA campaign coordinator Zach Fleisher, who has not yet heard an explanation as to why they were not invited.
The union started from the meeting
“He tells me that this is a political decision to push as an organized provincial club out of the picture, because we have successfully set the traps of this government’s policies and the dangers that run through the universities of Manitoba,” Fleischer said. The union strongly criticizes the government’s actions in the sector, including cutting operating grants while the Tories were in power, raising tuition revenues and plans for a new tuition policy that could inform different tuition categories for different programs. Miller finds that universities and colleges succeed as they do. The vast majority of graduates find work and generally earn higher salaries than those who do not have a degree or diploma in their name. An institution that pursues set government goals will not tend to innovate or try new things, Miller argues. He said this would be a loss for the industry. “It took me eight years to get my degree,” Miller said. “I guess I would have failed by a measure of student progress and time to graduate – but then I went on to get a master’s degree, a doctorate and now I’m a professor.” The province said it would schedule a next meeting with other faculty associations in the near future.
