UNB Saint John will remain a university, says minister

UNB Saint John will still be called a university under the terms of a suggested merging of New Brunswick university and community college campuses, Post-Secondary Education Minister Ed Doherty said Wednesday after a high-level meeting on the controversial plan.

But the Liberalgovernment won't guarantee that the Saint John institution will keep a liberal arts focus as it works to improve the way universitieswork with community colleges, Doherty said after the meeting brought together the province's university presidents and Premier Shawn Graham.

"The make-up of the university will in fact be determined by the discussions that will take place during this process, and that's what's very exciting about it," he said.

Doherty said a working group of university presidents and community college principals will help decide the future structure of UNB Saint John, as well as the rest of the post-secondary framework in New Brunswick.

Among other things,the minister wouldn't confirm that the university in Saint John would remain part of the University of New Brunswick.

That left the president of the UNB Saint John students' council feeling uneasy.

"We still remain concerned about the structure of the university here in Saint John," Patrick Beamish said.

"We've always said we want to remain a strong partner with the national comprehensive university that is UNB,and there was no real commitment [as to] whether it would stay as UNB, but the comment that there would be a strong university in Saint John, we feel, is very positive."

Students and community groups have protested against recommendations by the Commission on Post-Secondary Education to merge university campuses in Saint John, Edmundston and Shippagan with community colleges to form polytechnic institutes.

"What I was very happy about is, we didn't even talk about polytechnics," University of New Brunswick president John McLaughlin said after Wednesday's meeting.

"The conversation today was not about the past and some of the earlier dialogue. It's about new made-in New Brunswick models that we're all going to be proud of."

University of Moncton president Yvon Fontaine said he expects the working group will be able to make suggestions to government in the next six to eight weeks.

Graham has promised an announcement in next month's throne speech, and said any legislation changes would be made during next spring's session of the legislature.

The premier is set to meet with student leaders Oct. 24 to discuss the report.