Ninety-eight academic programs are at risk for phasing out at the University of Saskatchewan in the wake of reports from two independent task forces.
The task force reports on the school's academic programs and support services released Monday are the latest step of the university’s TransformUS initiative that aims to trim $25 million in university spending as the institution works to address a projected $44.5 million deficit by 2016.
Everything from degree programs to administrative offices were ranked on a scale of one to five. Those awarded a one were recommended to get more funding but those rated as five are on the potential chopping block.
Originally the task forces were asked to keep each category even.
“When the task forces sat down and got to work they told us they simply weren't able to do that,” said U of S president Ilene Busch-Vishniac. “They exercised their good judgment and gave us their recommendations. That there are more in quintile five tells us there is work to be done.”
In the support services report, it’s recommended that nearly 18 per cent of the support services be phased out and Busch-Vishniac said layoffs are a possibility.
The college of arts and science is the largest college at the school, representing several programs that were originally thought to be at risk.
“When you examine the proposals, the recommendations for all of the programs across this vast college that goes from the fine arts to the humanities to the social sciences to the sciences, the distribution in those quintiles is relatively even,” said Peter Stoicheff, the college’s dean.
The college of engineering is facing a big hit with 17 programs ranked as five and only two receiving recommendations for more resources.
Across the university there are 98 programs that could be reviewed or eliminated with 43 in the college of arts and science including three drama degrees, four music degrees, and all five religion and culture degrees.
In addition to the 17 programs in engineering the task force report also includes 13 in agriculture and resources and 11 in college of medicine. Fourteen other programs in different colleges at the U of S could also be targeted.
As for support services, 69 were put in the category for review or possible elimination. Within those services there are 207 full-time employees.
“Students are partners with the administration at the university so it's so crucial to see as much student involvement as we can and to have students read these reports,” said Max Fineday, president of the University of Saskatchewan Students Union.
The recommendations are going to a committee that will spend the next eight weeks consulting with the campus community. Final decisions won't be implemented until May.
