Athabasca University students are proud of the way the university has handled adversity this past year.
“It has been an interesting time for our university,” Athabasca University Graduate Students’ Association president Amanda Nielsen said. “Over the last couple years, we have had some challenging fiscal times at the university.”
In March, when the provincial government announced a 7.2-per-cent cut to funding for post-secondary institutions, Athabasca University struggled to find its footing.
Staff members were laid off temporarily and permanently.
“Our admin has actually done a fabulous job at minimizing impact on students,” Nielsen said. “We have heard great feedback from students in terms of how they are managing despite difficult circumstances in the province.”
She explained the cutbacks in funding affected all institutions across the province.
“Because Athabasca University is already funded less compared to (the University of Alberta), it hit Athabasca particularly hard,” she said. “The actual impact on students was minimal.”
According to Nielsen, students are happy with the university overall.
“The feedback I hear from students is that they are happy with the way the university is handling it. They want their university to be fiscally responsible so that it continues to exist in the future,” she explained.
One way to mitigate the cutbacks is to find a cost-effective way of operating.
“Athabasca University is considering a call centre model right now,” she explained. “We are moving toward professors being paid for the work they do, to a block pay model.”
The call centre model has not been universally embraced. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has signaled its intent to file a grievance with Athabasca University (AU) after learning the university will be shifting to a call centre format for course instruction in the Faculty of Science and Technology.
But Nielsen remains optimistic about the new model.
“A centre would allow all student inquiries go to a centralized source,” she said. “This already exists in the faculty of business. We would be taking what works there and applying it to other faculties.”
Nielsen said that the call centre for the faculty of business has been going well.
“For things like university policies, like getting transcripts, you don’t need to pay a faculty member with a higher salary to answer it when you have a call centre handling it,” she explained. “It would make it so that basic university operations are given to all students equally. When students need to speak with an academic expert, they can access that through the call centre as well.”
Nielsen said the students view the call centre as a positive step to restructure the university.
She also pointed out the staff are working hard to keep the impact on students minimal.
“We really appreciate the hard work of Athabasca University staff,” she said. “The province of Alberta has flat-out stunk in terms of giving us predictable funding.
“The university can’t plan for the future when you don’t know what it is going to be,” she said. “With that uncertainty, Athabasca University staff has done a great job making students very happy. I feel like it is hard for staff sometimes because they don’t get to see the smiling faces and that people really appreciate it.”
