Athabasca University campus with the city of Athabasca and the Athabasca River in the background. Blaise MacMullin
The Alberta government has backed down on its threat to cut funding to Athabasca University unless the school agrees to move hundreds of employees to the small town that shares its name, with the minister in charge of ‘post-secondary education indicating that you are willing to negotiate the proposed residency goal.
Alberta wants AU, an online university with about 40,000 students, to boost Athabasca’s economy by moving employees to the rural region. In a July 29 letter, the province required 65 percent of the institution’s staff to be in Athabasca in the 2024-2025 school year, according to UA president Peter Scott. That would force the AU to move 500 jobs to the community, on top of the 295 employees already in the region, he said.
Mr. Scott resisted Alberta’s earlier demand that the UA come up with a plan to bolster the local economy by attracting employees to Athabasca, which has about 2,805 residents. The July letter intensified the struggle; Mr. Scott said the government’s new proposal links $41 million in annual funding to the residency target.
But Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta’s minister of advanced education, told The Globe and Mail that the 65% residency target is flexible.
“It’s a suggestion,” said Mr. Nicolaides Tuesday. If the AU believes some of the goals in Alberta’s proposed funding agreement, known as an investment management agreement, are “unachievable,” the government would be willing to “talk about it.” [and] review them”.
When asked what counteroffer would be sufficient, Mr. Nicolaides said: “I would like to see at least senior executives and administrative staff based in the city, as they have been for the last few decades.”
AU’s website lists nine executives. Mr. Scott, in an Aug. 2 video statement, said the government’s July letter directs seven members of the AU’s executive team to work in Athabasca full-time by March 31, 2025. No it is unclear how much administrative staff this commitment would affect.
The institution welcomed Mr. Nicolaides “The AU would be delighted to return to the consultative relationship it has had with the government for years,” AU spokeswoman Kristine Williamson said in a statement.
Asked about the “minimum” requirement of Mr. Nicolaides, said: “We are grateful for the opportunity to resume discussions with the minister.” He added that the AU looked forward to working with the minister “to find a way forward with mutual agreement”.
Mr. Nicolaides noted that the school initially had until June 30 to provide the province with a plan to attract and retain more employees in the rural region, which is about 145 kilometers north of Edmonton.
The minister’s explanation for the subsequent residency quota figures was that the school’s response fell short of government expectations, so Alberta had to “fill in the blanks as best we could.” Scott said Alberta gave AU until Sept. 30 to sign the proposed funding agreement or risk losing $3.4 million in monthly funding.
The government’s 65% residency proposal would be a dramatic change, both for the school and the region. AU said 295 of its employees now live in the region, representing about 24% of its 1,200-strong workforce. The share of UA employees based in the region peaked at 44 percent in 2001, when 368 of 844 UA employees lived in the community, according to lobby group Keep Athabasca In Athabasca. The group’s statistics, provided by the city’s mayor, only go back to 2001. The group’s tally shows the local UA count topped 520 in 2010, representing 36 percent of the total university workforce.
AU, which has always focused on distance learning, moved to Athabasca from Edmonton in the mid-1980s. It accelerated its “almost virtual” strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic, which also boosted local lobbying efforts to increase the number of AU employees in the community. Ms. Williamson, the school spokesman, said UA employees in the Athabasca region who work online recently were given the option of working remotely, with a hybrid on-campus opportunity, or working on full time person. About 92 percent of those employees chose to distance themselves, he said.
AU is now redesigning its physical space in Athabasca to accommodate hybrid and collaborative work, Ms. Williamson. It is expected that the space can be used next October.
“All employees in the area and those who want to travel to Athabasca for team meetings … will have access to our buildings,” he said.
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