Universities don’t like one-year agreement pushed on them by Nova Scotia government

The provincial government said it has made “bold” changes to the way Nova Scotia’s 10 universities are funded in new one-year funding agreements that cap tuition increases, but the universities say they were not able to contribute to the plan after being told there would be a consultation process.

The one-year “bilateral agreements” for 2024-2025 also tie a portion of universities’ funding to performance targets. They replace 2019 memorandums of understanding that expire March 31.

Advanced Education Minister Brian Wong said the cap on tuition for Nova Scotia students will be two per cent, down from three per cent in the expiring agreements, while there will be a minimum nine per cent increase for first-year international undergraduate students. That doesn’t apply to University of King’s College and Dalhousie, which already instituted increases for those students.

Other requirements include:

• filling health program seats to an average enrolment rate of at least 97 per cent
• developing international student sustainability plans outlining how these students will be recruited, housed and connected to the labour market
• universities in Halifax and Cape Breton regional municipality to begin to increase student housing
• institutions to work together to develop an inter-university plan to reduce administrative expenses by a minimum of five per cent

The agreements also provide a two-per-cent increase in annual operating grants for most universities, up from one per cent in the expiring MoU, although Dalhousie’s grant will be the same as in 2023-24. Some of the grant money will be held back until universities achieve specific targets within their agreements.

Schools to develop proposals

Each university is also expected to develop proposals for 2025 to 2028 that outline how they will advance government priorities such as healthcare, housing and supporting labour market needs.

Wong told reporters Friday that the agreements are about keeping Nova Scotia’s status as a top education destination.

The previous Liberal government had set up long-term memorandums of agreement to provide universities with long-term stability. Wong hedged when asked whether the one-year agreements were a sign that the government couldn’t reach a new long-term MOU or that the universities didn’t like the plan.

“This first year, the bilateral agreement will set up future agreements,” he said. “Our hope is not to have one year, one year, one year, this (one) with each school is going to set us up for what we’re going to have in the future.”

Wong said there needed to be different agreements with different universities because they are each different in size and situations “but they do have one thing in common and that’s accountability. We must hold institutions accountable for the significant government funding that they receive.”

He said the government wants international students to stay in Nova Scotia after they graduate, and he wants universities to be graduating students in programs that match up with government priorities like housing, health care and population.

He said that’s why the performance requirements were put in place.

‘Distressing news’

While Wong continued to present the terms as an agreement, the Council of Nova Scotia University Presidents didn’t see it that way.

In a release, it called the one-year plans “distressing news,” and said that while university leaders have historically worked in close collaborations with provincial governments to develop funding frameworks, that was not the case this time around.

“On behalf of all university presidents, I express our disappointment that we had no opportunity to contribute to the development of the funding plan after being led to believe there would be a consultation or negotiation process,” council chair and Cape Breton University president David Dingwall said in the release. “The Minister decided on an approach that undermines any sense of partnership, collaboration or vision for the future of one of the province’s most strategically important sectors.”

He said the plan creates unnecessary financial hardship for many universities.

“It disregards the substantial contribution our universities make to the economic, social, and cultural development of communities across the province,” Dingwall said. “There is much in today’s announcement that requires greater clarity, and we remain hopeful that Minister Wong will engage in a collaborative process that enables universities to better understand government’s intentions and expectations and, at the same time, allow department officials to better understand the unintended consequences of its plan.”

The organization said it wouldn’t be making any further comment.