A panel examining post-secondary funding and the competitiveness of Alberta's post-secondary education system released its much-anticipated final report last Friday, Oct. 9, detailing 11 recommendations to reshape the province's post-secondary system. The recommendations from the five-member panel, chaired by economist Jack Mintz, focus on four areas: a new funding framework; tuition changes; increasing institutional autonomy and reducing red tape; and institutional neutrality and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives.
Among other changes, the panel recommends tying funding to labour market demand and government priorities; lifting the current cap on tuition fee increases; giving post-secondary institutions more operational autonomy; and requiring institutions to remain neutral on political issues and to rein in EDI initiatives.
If the report's recommendations are enacted, the results could be transformational for Alberta's post-secondary institutions and students, said Melanie Humphreys, president of The King's University in Edmonton and chair of the Alberta Post-Secondary Network (APSN), comprised of the presidents of Alberta's 26 post-secondary institutions.
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