Advanced education is essential to the financial, social and cultural success of the City of Calgary. Calgary's reputation for having the highest educated population and excellent post-secondary education opportunities and resources is intrinsically linked to its ability to attract corporate head offices, develop high technology industries, and foster vibrant new business and cultural ventures. Calgary is nationally and internationally renowned for athletics, arts and culture, innovative political thought, and as a recognized leader in medical research. All of these are connected to the teaching and research initiatives of Calgary’s post-secondary institutions.

Post-secondary education is also key to individual success. According to government statistics, 62 percent of jobs in Alberta require post-secondary qualifications. The unemployment rate for university graduates is half that of high school graduates and job opportunities for those with post-secondary education continue to grow in Canada. Incomes for those with post-secondary qualifications are higher, and thus graduates return more dollars to our community through taxes and spending power.

Calgary has four world class, public post-secondary institutions:

• The Alberta College of Art and Design
• Mount Royal College
• Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
• The University of Calgary

Together, these institutions employ close to 5,000 people. Their economic impact is at least $750,000,000 each year. Plus, there are the immeasurable benefits of a highly educated workforce.

Despite the unique mission and mandate of each institution, they all share one thing in common: advanced education resources are seriously threatened. The need to balance the provincial budget was real, and all public sectors sacrificed to achieve this goal. However, we have passed the point of belt tightening and are inflicting serious and potentially long lasting damage on our post-secondary institutions.

The basic element in education is the communication between students and instructors. With fewer instructors and ever increasing numbers of students, this element is suffering.

Over the last five years, the average class size in a junior course at the U of C has increased by 19 percent. In the Faculty of Social Sciences, the number of lectures with more than 200 students has increased by 50 percent since 1991. In the Sciences, half of the junior level lectures are now larger that 125.

Larger classes are likely to mean a lower quality of education. The faculty member has more students to grade, to help with problems, and to motivate.

While the numbers denoting the decline in faculty are dramatic, now add in the rise in student numbers. At SAIT, between 1991 and 1994, while the number of faculty dropped 128 percent, the number of full-time equivalent students rose 29 percent. The other institutions face similar changes.

One indicator of the reputation of the post-secondary institution is its ability to attract international students who also provide economic spin offs to both the institution and the community. However, in the last five years, the U of C has seen a 45 percent decline in international undergraduate students.

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Post-Secondary Downsizing
1991-05: 30% SAIT faculty gone
1991-97: One in six U of C faculty gone

The quality of instruction and research in post-secondary education is measured by the brain power of instructors and professors. With budget cuts, this power is diminished. Between 1991 and 1995, SAIT has lost over 30 percent of its faculty.

Between 1991 and 1997, the U of C forecasts that one in six faculty members will be gone. Among the bright young scholars at the Assistant Professor rank, this decline has reached almost 30 percent, with a 17 percent drop between 1993 and 1994 (1995 figures have yet be released).

In comparative salaries, the U of C has dropped from 3^rd nationally, to 23^rd.

The cuts have also brought rising tuition. For example, tuition for a full course load at the University of Calgary has doubled in four years and will continue to rise. Students at Mount Royal College are bracing for an 89 percent increase in tuition by 1999. Even when adjusted for inflation, no University of Calgary student in the 30 year history of the institution has ever paid more than the students to today, and there is no end in sight.

Meanwhile, the student aid system faces increasing stress. The average debt load upon graduation increased by 20 percent between 1991 and 1994, and continues to rise rapidly. The monthly loan level from the Students’ Finance Board to a single student living away from home has increased by only seven percent over the last 120 years. And, supplemental assistance grants to help those students in high need have now been replaced by loans.

Both the U of C and Mount Royal College have established food banks to support students. The food bank at MRC feels an average 121 people per month. The Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank provided 1889 hampers to post-secondary students and their families last year.

The Students’ Association of Mount Royal College reports that this year’s 12 month budget for Emergency Students Loans was exhausted during the first month of school. By the end of the fall semester, the skyrocketing demand for this service meant that the fund had to be increased by 251 percent.

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With the loss of faculty, institutions’ ability to deliver the existing range of programs and specialties is lost.

Keith Archer, Associate Dean (Research) in the U of C’s Faculty of Social Science, wrote in the Calgary Herald that "as a result [of faculty losses], by the fall of 1997, the Bachelor of Arts degree in social anthropology will become non-viable. In economics, the decline in faculty members is so large (35) percent) that significant gaps have opened in many key areas. Political science is experiencing a critical loss in research methods, Canadian and Alberta politics, Latin America and public administration. The psychology department is losing faculty in the areas of psychopathology, behavioral neuroscience and other areas." That is in just one of the U of C’s faculties. At Mount Royal College, the number of programs offered has decreased by one-third over the last five years. In the 1994 survey of students graduating from the U of C, 20 percent said they were frustrated with courses not being available when they need to take them.

High quality education requires adequate library, laboratory and other resources. But these resources have been drastically reduced. In the "knowledge era," the number of books and periodicals increase dramatically each year, as do their costs. To keep up with cutting edge information, our post-secondary libraries should be increasing the materials they receive, but the opposite is true. Mount Royal College reports that new library acquisitions will drop 21 percent next year. The U of C has had the number of new books purchased cut in half over the last five years, and further declines are forecast. Periodicals, such as scholarly journals, have been dropping by 500 per year at the U of C, and library staff have been cut back by 25 percent at the University.

The Alberta College of Art and Design has lost its Computer Systems Advisor and Gallery Designer. These are key positions for an art college, especially as design increasingly relies on computer technology.

The corporate community relies on post-secondary institutions to train students with the latest equipment, but too often the technology is out of date. Much of the critical science technology is on a replacement schedule of 40 years. Forty years ago the computing power of today’s $5 pocket calculator would have filled an entire room.

Many people talk about the future of education in terms of computers, virtual learning and internet connections. But, students struggle to gain access to computers. Students at the Alberta College of Art and Design have purchased computers for their college themselves because the institution couldn’t afford them.

While Calgary post-secondary institutions are under stress, they remain world-class in reputation and quality. However, they will not remain so if we continue to neglect them and erode the resources available to them through government funding.

The faculty and student associations at Calgary post-secondary institutions encourage all Calgarians to discuss the impact of advanced education on their lives. Tell your MLA and MP that education is valued in our community and must be made a priority. You can reach your MLA through the Rite Line at 310-0000. The phone numbers for you Member of Parliament are:

Calgary Centre 531-0980
Calgary North 282-7980
Calgary West 286-4101
Calgary Northwest 291-0018
Calgary Southeast 271-1127
Calgary Southwest 253-7990

Let’s ensure that our children have the opportunity to pursue their dreams through the post-secondary education of their choice – right here in our city.

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