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Story by: Christopher Jeffries

Universities can now look back on the six- ties and early seventies as a kind of golden age: enrolment was growing at a healthy rate, new facilities were being built and old ones expanded, and the government seemed to be providing post-secondary institutions with adequate funding. Concurrently, faculties began offering new programs and courses. There seemed no limit to what our universities could achieve. Today the situa- tion is starkly different. Our universities are facing a crisis, the effects of which may have significant impact on the way we compete on a commercial basis with the rest of the world.

According to Mr. A. W. Johnson’s 1985 report to the Secretary of State entitled, “Giving Greater Point and Purpose to the Federal Financing of Post-Secondary Educa- tion and Research in Canada’’ enrolments at universities have increased by 27% between 1977-78 and 1984-85. However, govern- ment support for core operation has increas- ed in reai terms by only 2.5%. This represents a decline from 1.35% to 1.24% of Canada’s Gross National Product.

The situation in the Maritime provinces echoes the findings of Johnson’s report. While enrolment has increased by nearly

CHANGE IN SUPPORT PER CLIENT MARITIMES - CONSTANT $

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30% at post secondary institutions in the region, operating assistance has increased less than the Consumer Price Index and the slightly higher Atlantic Universities, Non- Salary Price Index. In real terms, this has meant that institutional grants have declined by approximately 25% per student.

In brief, the funding of post-secondary education is becoming less of a priority than it once was.

In this decade, increases in university grants have not only been consistently lower than changes in provincial government ex- penditure, but have also declined by 20% in real terms. Interestingly, real assistance to hospitals and schools has increased by ap- proximately 20% and 40% respectively.

in brief, the funding of post-secondary education is becoming less of a priority than it once was. Exacerbating the problem, the federal government has shown itself increas- ingly reluctant to increase — transfer payments. In fact, in 1985, the government announced that by 1990 it hoped to trim these payments by $2 billion.

The results of the funding crunch are ob- vious: higher tuition, crowded classrooms, inadequate monies for research and attempts by institutions to raise money through active and aggressive fundraising. lronically, as financial support has decreased, university education is being recognized as an asset to our national community. The Canadian Manufacturers Association (CMA), in it’s 1987 report, ‘“Keeping Canada Competitive: The Importance of Post-Secondary Educa- tion,’” states that in order to deal with the changes brought about by the shift from a resource to an information based economy, Ggmadian manufacturers require “‘post-

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