Article content continued

The College of Medicine has long been a concern for the university. It is the only North American medical school to have twice been placed on probation by accreditation authorities. In its latest operations forecast — which paints a bleak picture of the college’s financial situation — the university said a third probation “would be unprecedented.”

Preston Smith, who was appointed dean in 2014, acknowledged that the college was running a surplus when he took over and attributed the shortfall to the cost of transforming it into “a modern medical school.” The situation was “exacerbated” by the loss of the $40 million in targeted funding, the university said in its operations forecast.

The accreditors are deans, vice-deans and faculty members from other Canadian medical schools, who understand the costs associated with running such an institution, but will want to see a plan for how the College of Medicine will manage its finances through 2018-19 when they arrive, Smith added.

Despite Smith’s confidence that the province “will come through in the long run,” it remains unclear if the government will provide the college with the $17.3 million it says it needs to continue operating and begin paying down its deficit next year. Advanced Education Minister Bronwyn Eyre said this week that the decision will be part of the next budget cycle.

Pointing to an annual funding increase of more than $100 million since the Saskatchewan Party took power in 2007, Eyre said there is no question the government supports the university and all of its colleges. At the same time, she said the medical school should find “new and different ways” to address its fiscal challenges.