On Wednesday afternoon (April 4), on a conference call with representatives from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Treasury Board, members of our own senior administration team were assured that, pending passage of the provincial budget, the university would receive the full two per cent increase on our Campus Alberta grant and our full share of the tuition backfill. They also indicated we could assume there would be no reductions in other aspects of our funding to offset these increases, something that has happened in the past.
Based on this assumption and following on our preliminary discussions with the Board of Governors at its last meeting, we will further develop the budget options we had been exploring to determine how additional funding could best be used. Then, once we receive the formal letter from government confirming our funding situation, we will be in a position to have more concrete discussions with the Board.
On behalf of the university community, I would like to extend my thanks to government for their interest in understanding the university's fiscal challenges, as well as to Vice-President (Finance & Administration) Gitta Kulczycki and Provost and Vice-President (Academic) Steven Dew for their continual efforts on this file especially over the past several weeks. We look forward to receiving our budget letter.
David H. Turpin
President and Vice-Chancellor
Related link: Budget FAQs