May 1, 2008

Well, it’s been a while since my last entry. No, I haven’t been on an extended vacation. Rather, since I last wrote, among other things, we have gone through a new federal budget and a provincial election, throne speech and budget; recruited and appointed two new vice-presidents; made significant progress on two big capital projects; finalized and received Board approval of the 2008-09 U of C budget and had a protest about credit cards. Here is the précis.

The federal budget provided some additional support for university research -- a series of initiatives signaling clearly the government’s intention to be serious about advancing Canada’s R&D in areas of national priority to world class levels. Governments rarely get any public or political credit for progressive maneuvers on the research front so I’ve got to give these folks credit. On financial aid for students, some much-needed simplification and extension of student scholarship and grant programs.

The provincial election saw a return of the Conservative government to majority government. In Alberta, this was not a surprise. The fact that the governing party increased its number of seats was a surprise to many, especially political pundits who called it wrong. The provincial budget demonstrates the continuing intention to deal with growth pressures, including those related to university access.

There is the same labour shortage for senior executives at universities as there are for experienced talent in many other sectors. We were lucky enough to secure two talented seasoned VP’s who will help us considerably in the financial/administrative and capital planning portfolios.

We are finally seeing the beginning of construction of the Taylor Family Digital Library (TFDL). Devoted readers of this blog will appreciate the significance of finally moving to the actual construction, as opposed to planning or design, phases. We can now see, or at least imagine, the light at the end of the TFDL tunnel. Also, we are entering the final design phases of the Energy, Environment, and Experiential Learning Building.

Next year, the U of C operates on a revenue base of approximately $970 million. The outgoing VP Finance laments that he was not the CFO when we hit a billion dollars. I, for one, have to pinch myself occasionally to remember that I am the CEO of a near-billion dollar operation–-what kind of work is this for an academic? If anyone did not think that universities were big businesses, they should peruse the budgets or examine the economic impact of the larger universities in Canada.

And now for the “credit card protest.” We decided to stop taking credit cards for tuition payments at the U of C. This action follows a similar decision at UBC a couple of years ago and at our sister institution, the University of Alberta, this year (only about half the universities in Canada allow credit card payment of tuition). Our rationale was simple. Each year, the U of C loses about $800,000 in tuition revenue as a service fee to the credit card companies. Rather than give this money to the bankers, we decided to give this money to the students by stopping to take credit card payments and allocating this $800,000 directly to student financial aid. There are all kinds of ways to mitigate the impact of this decision on students, and we are doing these things. But, I admit, there is nothing we can do about one thing that appears to be a source of continuing irritation to those who wish to use credit cards for tuition payments–-they no longer will receive air mile or other bonus points for paying for their university education.

Students are writing final exams. Had my first question of the year about what I was going to do with all my “free time” during the four months that most students are elsewhere. If nothing else, I hope this blog gives people some sense of what might occupy a university president’s time during the “summer months.” More on this in a later entry.

Thanks for reading.

If you would like to respond to this blog, please e-mail: president@ucalgary.ca