The public education system belongs to us as the people of the province. We must demand that it functions in ways that meet our needs, in the current global environment, writes Lori Lee Oates. (Nicholas Hillier Photography/Submitted by Lori Lee Oates)

With the Liberals reviving their pre-election budget, one of the most important issues on the table for future economic planning in the province is the funding of our post-secondary institutions.

Memorial University is currently in the process of a search for its next president. As such, this is an excellent time to discuss the direction that we want post-secondary education to take in our province.

It is fairly well known that in the 21st century we are living in a global knowledge-based economy.

Unfortunately, we are also living in an age of the demonization of knowledge and of massive cuts to post-secondary education.

In the U.S., billions have been cut from higher education while the cost of tuition has risen by more than 200 per cent since the late 1980s.

In Ontario, the Ford government has cut free tuition for low-income families, made it harder to qualify for grants, and cut the interest free period for loans.

Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, we have not been immune to these types of funding cuts.

The Memorial University campus in St. John's. (Glenn Payette/CBC News)

Cuts to post-secondary education

Memorial University has been on the receiving end of $30.4 million in cuts since 2012-2013, while the deferred maintenance fund has been cut from $10 million to $0. Much of the infrastructure at our provincial university is in need of repairs or upgrades.

Tuition fees have been frozen since 1999 — and this raises serious questions about how the university can make up the lost revenue. It also raises concerns about access to education and how our province is supposed to thrive in the modern knowledge-based world.

There has also been a defunding of tenured research positions, moving instead to per-course instructors.

Undergraduate students are increasingly treated like cash cows, not worthy of tenured and tenure track instruction. Much of a university's revenue comes from undergraduate tuition.

Teaching conditions are learning conditions. As such, undergraduates are increasingly being taught by people engaged in low-paid precarious employment, which provides no benefits.

Tuition fees have been frozen since 1999 at Memorial University. That raises questions about how the university can make up the lost revenue. (Jeremy Eaton/CBC)

College of the North Atlantic has also seen staffing cuts, particularly in rural areas of the province.

Knowledge and the New Economy

We frequently hear about the American coastal elites. California and the New England states are innovation hot spots on a global scale. It is not a coincidence that these areas are also home to some of the best universities in the world.

California has the strongest public college system in the world — and New England is a jewel in the global academic crown. Both areas have a high level of knowledge resources and strong support for academic networks.

London, in the U.K., is also home to some of the best universities in the world and an economic hot spot.

Next door in Nova Scotia, where they are home to 10 universities, the province is growing its population, while Newfoundland and Labrador continues to have issues with out-migration.

All of these areas draw students, academics, and business opportunities from all over the world.

Moving further into knowledge-based sectors and benefiting from innovation are all things that a well-resourced system of post-secondary education can help us to accomplish.

Education and community

Colleges and universities are not just places for students and academics. In a well-functioning society, they help to create high-quality public dialogue.

As a province, we are currently experiencing a void in public policy solutions to our complex issues. We need our most learned to take a role in leading the public discourse on these issues, at the side of government.

As someone who has spent my life going between the academy and government, I can say with some certainty that there are often very poor links between these two sectors. They really don't speak the same language and at this point in our history we need them to be more on the same page.

Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, we need our academics to be more visible to the public — especially the tenured people. One of the most valuable aspects of tenure is that it gives scholars the freedom to speak out on issues.

While the provincial government must absolutely be more strategic about our spending than it has been in the past, cutting education is penny-wise and pound foolish.

In the U.K., where I completed my Ph.D., academics are judged and hired not only on their research and teaching — they also have to demonstrate public engagement and research impact in the community.

Indeed, academic hiring committees in the U.K. often consider engagement and impact highly important. Unfortunately, we've gone so far down the road of treating academics like hamsters on the publishing wheel and grant factories that there is little time for them to engage with the larger community.

As a province, we need to get over the fact that many academics have moved here from elsewhere. We must stop dismissing opinions because they don't come from people who were born here.

College of the North Atlantic has also seen staffing cuts, particularly in rural areas of the province. (CBC)

If there was ever a time in our history that we are in need of a variety of perspectives, from people with lots of different backgrounds, this is it.

It can only help us when we attract the great minds from other jurisdictions and the university must be an asset that does this.

Administrators must be accountable

Our colleges and university must be accountable to the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Academics administrators are some of the highest-paid professionals in the province. We need to ask hard questions of them.

Are they increasing student enrolment? Completion rates? Student satisfaction?

Are they attracting more international students and students from other provinces? The university is one of our best assets for bringing young people into the province.

Is the university attracting more research funding? Are they attracting more endowments?

Is the global ranking of Memorial increasing? Are we creating global centres of excellence?

Is the university building more international links?

What is the level of job satisfaction among academics?

A challenged public policy landscape

The political and public policy landscape in our province is extremely challenged at present. Muskrat Falls has taught us the dangers of a lack of public discourse.

We have a debt crisis and an aging population. We need our government and academic institutions working together to solve these problems.

Public policy priorities must also be research priorities.

For example, if economic recovery is a priority then we must fund economics research and business development centres. If democratic reform is a priority, we must fund political science research. If violence against women is a priority, we must fund gender studies research.

In an age that some call post-truth, facts must still matter. Expertise must still matter. Research must still matter.

The global trend toward cutting funding to post-secondary education is a way of cutting oversight on decision makers. It is another way of trying to maintain the status quo.

Governments everywhere are trying to constrain knowledge construction.

This only serves to keep power in the hands of elites.

Memorial University's Grenfell Campus is located in Corner Brook. (Colleen Connors/CBC)

Knowledge doesn't belong to the state. Nor should we allow the state to constrain it.

Furthermore, we must demand that they fund its generation, on issues that matter to us as a province.

Research must matter

The outcomes of the cuts to Memorial University and our public college system have not been healthy for our province. Nor will they be healthy for our youth.

In an age that some call post-truth, facts must still matter. Expertise must still matter. Research must still matter. Our decisions must be evidence-based.

While the provincial government must absolutely be more strategic about our spending than it has been in the past, cutting education is penny-wise and pound foolish.

It would be a better approach to focus on improving outcomes within the system, while continuing to support it.

We can't afford to not fund education. We can't afford to not hold its administrators accountable for outcomes.

The public education system belongs to us as the people of the province. We must demand that it functions in ways that meet our needs, in the current global environment.

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