UNBC Waiting For Budget Breakdown

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 04:15 AM

(photo courtesy of UNBC)

The University of Northern BC will be watching closely for details on how the provincial government’s promised new funding for more graduate seats will be spread among B.C.’s post-secondary institutes.

Director of Media and Public Relations, Rob van Adrichem, says the province has promised an additional 25-hundred graduate seats and seems to be linking the funding to research, which could bode well for the UNBC.

Van Adrichem says a lot of the university’s graduate work has typically been done out in the regions - people with degrees who don’t want to leave their positions to pursue further studies in Social Work, Masters of Education, and Community Health.

But he points out that graduate level programs at the Prince George campus are one area where enrolment is increasing.

Local university officials will be waiting for a specific breakdown of the new funding to see what UNBC’s "share of the pie" will be, says van Adrichem.

As for UNBC’s own efforts to prepare a balanced budget for March, the university’s spokesperson says the Deans have just recently submitted their recommendations around degree offerings, amalgamations, and buy-outs. The University announced a plan to cut 25 faculty and 25 non-faculty positions and to fine-tune its academic offerings to get back on solid financial ground. (click here for previous story)

Van Adrichem says the recommendations have gone to Vice-President and Prevost, Dr. Howard Brunt, and the next step is dependent upon how the university decides to best implement them to meet its commitment of shifting from a growth mode, to one of sustainability.

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Posted on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 04:15 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: lunarguy on February 21 2007 5:36 AM

That is so funny. The new president up on the hill seems so anti-research. They got rid of Max Blow, VP Research and then got rid of the position as well. I wouldn't be too surprised if the majority of the 9 or 10 Canada Research Chairs are going to leave UNBC for a place more in tune with research, like wherever Max went. When they leave, so will the Grad Students. Won't happen over night but lets see how much research is going on in 2-3 years.

Posted by: owl on February 21 2007 9:03 AM

The capacity to research was the very reason why those who founded the university proposed a new entity rather than going the same direction as those communities where the community colleges became "university colleges" offering only undergraduate degrees in conjunction with partnerships with existing universities.

If UNBC will not aggressively continue to make research an important part of its program profile, then it will be letting the community down by not doing its share of providing a magnet to attract knowledge industries to this region at a time when diversification of industry is needed.

Posted by: owl on February 21 2007 9:05 AM

BTW, Dr. Blunt has his work cut out for him. Balancing a budget, setting new academic directions and heading up the taks force on Air Quality. Hopefully he has good help and the ability to direct that help.

Posted by: Palopu on February 21 2007 9:21 PM

Dont know why Blunt would have his work cut out for him. Didnt Dr. Jago head up the Air Quality Task Force for the past year. Didnt Dr. Jago leave the University in **Great Shape**, and if he didnt, then why was it reported that he did????

Posted by: Druidia on February 22 2007 11:02 PM

Cozzetto announced to the faculty/staff last Feb. 16 that Ron Thring is the new Acting Vice-Provost of Research and Graduate Programs.

Posted by: owl on February 23 2007 8:16 AM

Yes he did Palopu ... and it shows ....

And the info to the public about the fiscal situation of the University was certainly missing.

So, we can now start to measure the good Dr.

The IPG is talking about succession planning. The UNBC obviously did not do that very well either. Who was in charge of that? Typically that belong to the Board in conjunction with the CEO.

Perhaps we should be starting to look seriously at the Board here as well.

Interestingly the chair of the Board responsible for the IPG is just as invisible.

If we were to equate that to City operations, Mr. Bates would be the front man, not the Mayor.

Posted by: Nowicki on February 24 2007 3:58 AM

They say fish rots from the head and not the tail. Those in UNBC are fully aware of the full support that for example Dr Jego gave to Dean of CSAM (Dr McGill) who was in serious and prolonged conflict with the previous VP academic Dr Deborah Poff. The situation got to the point that Dr McGill just ignored many of the instructions of his superior - the VP Academic (Dr Poff) - and she stepped down from her position months earlier before the new VP Academic Dr Brunt started work. If the new UNBC president has been hired one year before, Dean McGill's contract would not have been renewed.

My guess is that the new VP Dr Brunt also did not want to become Dr Poff (no 2) as long as Jego was in charge and Jego supported Dr McGill. But it seems now Dr Brunt relies on Dr McGill's "contacts" and "friends" for his next year's renewal of his own contract. Dr Howard Brunt has aquired a reputation of wasting UNBC money on hiring psychologists and mediators to forcefully convince the faculty that "everything is fine" and on costy arbitrations, instead of resolving the grievances himself in a timely fashion (i.e. being blunt and not coward towards deans). The UNBC VP academic position in UNBC has become disfunctional since the time of Deborah Poff, thanks to Jego.

The new UNBC president needs to bring
"a new clean team" for administration of UNBC and only keep those few whose performance has been positive in terms of numbers and only relies on those very few people with "positive and clean" record, otherwise he will become part of the sick system in UNBC administration instead of reforming the sick system.

The mess in UNBC is the legacy that Jego left and Jego got an "order of Canada" which is a joke.