Universities, colleges a step ahead of Pallister’s axe

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/05/2017 (3302 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s universities say they’ve already slashed a lot of management jobs ahead of a provincial government directive to cut 15 per cent of their managers.

Premier Brian Pallister told the Free Press Tuesday that his government is preparing to issue the same order to post-secondary education facilities that already applies to the civil service, Crown corporations and regional health authorities.

It was not clear Wednesday when the province will issue its latest edict, or how long the schools will have to comply. Pallister told reporters he is gathering up-to-date information on the government’s plans before releasing any further details.

Budgets for the September academic year have been set, or will be very soon, and severance packages are likely to be costly.

None of the schools that responded to the Free Press Wednesday has heard from the government, and none would speculate what a further 15 per cent management cut would do to the quality of education they offer.

The University of Winnipeg said in the wake of significant budget cuts made earlier this month, that it has already chopped 15 per cent of its managers.

“Over the past decade, University of Winnipeg has streamlined administrative operations and cut more than $16 million in annual expenses from its operating budget,” a spokesman said in an email. “Additionally, since July 1, 2016, U of W has eliminated 15 per cent of management positions.”

The U of W has one of the lowest percentages of administration as a part of its budget of any Canadian university, officials said.

The University of Manitoba has been reducing management positions for years, executive director of public affairs John Danakas said Wednesday.

“We have introduced several initiatives to drive down costs,” Danakas said. “The U of M has been strategically increasing efficiency for over 10 years.

“There has been the Academic Structure Initiative, intended to reduce the number of faculties so that there is a more streamlined administrative component, and many administrative duties are shared.”

The university announced several years ago that it would cut its 20 faculties down to about 13 by this summer. Four faculties have become health sciences, and the faculty of human ecology has been broken up and scattered among other faculties, but no further mergers are planned.

The U of M has four vice-presidents, compared to five or more at the rest of Canada’s 15 largest universities, Danakas said.

The University College of the North in The Pas has already dropped three deans, communications director James Scott said.

“University College of the North is consistently looking for efficiencies,” he said. “For example, two dean positions were discontinued in 2014-15 and one (will be) in 2017-18. UCN will continue to adjust our management structure so as to ensure effective and efficient management structure.”

A Red River College spokesman said the school will not speculate before receiving the directive.

The government has not yet explained why it’s not extending the directive to public school divisions in the province, though only the urban divisions would have enough managers on staff to hit 15 per cent reduction by dropping one position — unless the definition of “middle manager” is massaged to include vice-principals.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca