Province reviewing post-secondary funding after cuts to international student permits

The Alberta government has enlisted economist Jack Mintz to chair a panel to examine post-secondary funding in Alberta.

The panel will also look at funding models for higher education across Canada and around the world.

Advanced Education Minister Rajan Sawhney says the creation of the panel comes after the federal government introduced tighter restrictions by limiting the number of international student permits.

"The landscape has changed. We have seen federal policies around international students, that is going to impact the revenues that post-secondaries are going to get," Sawhney told CBC on Thursday.

"So the timing is right to do this review, because we want to make sure that post-secondaries are funded appropriately, and they did a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of the reductions to these operating grants in the past. So it's time, it's time to understand what other jurisdictions are doing and how they can be more competitive." 

New, tighter restrictions for international students at Canadian universities and colleges are worrying industry watchers, who warn that continued uncertainty about post-secondary could damage Canada's reputation as an attractive place to study and live. 

Canada's post-secondary sector was already adapting to a reduction of international study permits and other measures announced in January when Immigration Minister Marc Miller further tightened the cap in mid-September.

He dropped the intake by an additional 10 per cent for the next two years (437,000 will be permitted), and it now includes graduate and doctoral students, who were exempted earlier. He also added tightened eligibility for the Post-Graduate Work Permit program.

In 2020, a review of Alberta's post-secondary education system was done to look at the viability of schools, root out duplication and recommend how to better prepare students for careers.

The Alberta government awarded a $3.7-million contract to American consulting firm McKinsey & Company to delve into the province's network of 26 institutions. The firm has an office in Calgary.

One of several recommendations by the firm when they concluded their report in 2021 was the creation of new boards to oversee multiple universities, colleges or polytechnic institutions in the province.

The McKinsey review was supposed to be the deepest dive into Alberta's post-secondary system in 13 years at the time. 

NDP education critic David Eggen says the time for reviews is over.

"The base funding for post-secondary is at an all-time low relative to the economy, and the last post-secondary budget was basically flat, and that was with 6.7 per cent inflation and so forth," Eggen told reporters on Thursday.

"I've never seen post-secondaries in such a tight spot, students are literally not able to complete full studies. Many people have to drop out, and [with] inflation ... cost of living is just exacerbating the situation. So it's an emergency that demands action, not another reflective study."

The provincial government says its 2024 budget invested in job training and an estimated $1.4 billion in student supports, and an increase in operating expense funding for post-secondary institutions.