President's Edmonton Journal conversation

As many of you know, I meet on occasion with the editorial board of the Edmonton Journal. These meetings provide me with an opportunity to have a thoughtful conversation with some of the Journal’s leaders that can help inform the future work of members of the editorial board. And of course, these meetings allow me to engage in discussion about the vision and future of the University Alberta, an advocacy role I take very seriously. 

The discussions always are “on the record,” of course, but much of their content rarely is circulated beyond the room – with the exception of the occasional story that might be extrapolated. Since last week’s discussion was broad-ranging, I have decided to share with you the larger context and content of the conversation, and will endeavour to do so with similar such visits in the future. An additional statement regarding the conversation is posted on my website.

I started the meeting with an update on the many University of Alberta accomplishments—your accomplishments—since my last visit. These included:

• The CCIS opening and the Edmonton Clinic Health Academy opening the following day, underscoring how these buildings are transformative for our students and to our teaching, learning and research enterprise;
• the CAIP chairs (Campus Alberta Innovates Program), the result of our effective partnership with government to retain and attract top faculty from across all disciplines, including the social sciences and humanities; and
• our innovative ways of addressing key issues, such as gathering in an interdisciplinary fashion around critical issues such as water, food security, energy and environment.

I noted government’s raised awareness of the importance of grad students and how important they are for the university and for the province, reiterating the preferred 3:1 ratio of undergrad to grad students as important for vibrancy within the institution. 

I talked about the importance of our international linkages and of striving for excellence, noting that “world-class inputs lead to world-class outputs.” I put this observation in the context of Provincial priorities: the Province of Alberta right now has an opportunity like no other time in its history to be at the forefront of positive change and economic growth in Canada. That opportunity is linked to the U of A because our economy is moving from being a resource-based economy, to being a knowledge economy, to being a creative economy. Those who succeed in this time of change will be those who have the ability to conceptualize and interpret and create. Universities are critical in this regard.

We then moved into a more detailed discussion, and here is a recap of some of my comments: 

We now have a remarkable opportunity to invest in this move toward a creative economy by investing in post-secondary institutions. How do we drive a creative economy in Alberta? Can we do it incrementally? Perhaps, but there may be a better approach. The province’s investment in infrastructure has been brave and bold, but its investment in people has been incremental. As we turn this corner in our economy, I believe we need brave and bold investments in our people, too.

It would be prudent for a provincial endowment to be established for the social sciences and humanities, such as has been established in health sciences and other areas. Such an investment would allow Alberta to become the leading creative economy in Western Canada.

I was asked if we are moving the needle on garnering such support and in moving in this new direction as a province. Not yet, I noted, but I am excited about Premier Alison Redford and her vision for Alberta.

I was asked about cuts to the arts and humanities. I acknowledged that there is pain in the system right now because we must focus in the short term on the here-and-now:  how to meet our growing needs without additional dollars. But even as we do so, we are pushing, now, for investment in the long term. When times are tough and there is not additional funding available, it is difficult to invest differentially in any program or to shore up investment in critical areas. It takes time, but I am not giving up on it.  Will I ask government, again, for an endowment linked to the humanities? Yes, but we’ve got to give this government a chance to respond. We have to have conversations about what is possible. 

I was asked whether I agreed that our student experience is getting worse because our funding has not increased. I reminded everyone that we don’t know what the budget is yet, but that we are doing everything possible to mitigate the effect of budget restrictions on the student experience. I noted, too, that during the years that we were receiving adequate and more than adequate funding—the successive years of six per cent increases—we invested heavily in initiatives that benefit students directly: 

• hiring more professors, 
• improving IT,  
• investing in smart classrooms,  
• launching the Festival of Teaching to help improve teaching methods,
• creating new student support programs, and so forth. 

Because of this prior investment, a cut of two per cent, if implemented within the institution this year to offset the lack of additional provincial funding, should have only a modest impact this year on the student experience. (It should be noted that I did not say there would be no impact or that there has been no impact to this point based on budgetary challenges of the last several years. I recognize that cuts made to this point have been difficult.)

One editorial board member noted that many people in the general public have very little understanding of the value of the arts and humanities to society. I agreed. We had a good discussion in which I noted that the value of the arts and the humanities is, among other things, about the human spirit and human society. Think about the important questions. Do we have good government? What about our institutions – are they contributing? Think about what you care about. How do these things come to be? How can we inspire the human spirit? I talked about the creative economy as a defining factor in our future.

I should note here that I reminded the board that the concept of the creative economy, and others that were brought up during the conversation, have been discussed in many venues, and I recommended an article that they might read should they choose to dig a little deeper into those concepts.

I was asked why the university can’t sell some of its land holdings to offset the budget woes as was suggested by one of our colleagues  in a recent media interview. I noted that while I could not calculate on the spot how much land the university owns or what its value might be, such an initiative would a) have only a short-term benefit; and b) amount to us seeking prosperity at the expense of posterity. The University of Alberta will be here for generations after us; why would we mortgage the future? Even if we sold off some of our land for millions of dollars and established an endowment, the funds coming into the university would not be worth mortgaging the future. 

I was asked if university status for colleges in Edmonton and Alberta is having an impact on us. I believe that students discern the difference between us and other institutions. Some students would not seek the rigourous research-intensive university experience that the University of Alberta provides, so it is good that students have many options.

What might be the biggest impact of the U of A on Edmonton? I mentioned several, including our ability to connect Edmonton and Alberta to the world, and the world to Edmonton and Alberta, by retaining and attracting top talent. Seventy-seven percent of our graduates stay, work and create businesses in Alberta – while at the same time they are prepared to make strong global connections.

In discussing the benefits of the U of A and challenges to the U of A, I emphasized those with which we all are familiar, such as our low levels of participation in Alberta in post-secondary education among 18-24 year-olds. There was much more, as you might imagine, including a lively discussion about what the U of A can contribute to open debate about the challenges facing this province now and in the future. I can assure you that our discussion was at once thoughtful, challenging, and inspiring in many ways.

Sincerely,

Indira Samarasekera, OC

President and Vice-Chancellor