Presidents of 2 Manitoba universities wary of funding higher education using certain outcomes

Manitoba's plans to change the way it finances universities and colleges is facing opposition from presidents of some of those institutions.

In separate letters to the government, University of Manitoba president Michael Benarroch asked the province to refrain from tying funding to data, while Brandon University president David Docherty warned the metrics contemplated by government could come at the expense of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The letters suggest the Progressive Conservative government may have trouble persuading post-secondary stakeholders to support its proposed overhaul in how it funds higher education.

"We don't want to be driving away students from post-secondary education. We want increased access," Scott Forbes, president of the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations, said in an interview.

The province has repeatedly signalled its intention to explore some form of performance-based funding, which would be tailored to targets such as students' progression, degree/diploma attainment and graduates' incomes. A majority of American states and some Canadian provinces have developed a funding model of this style.

Manitoba's Advanced Education Minister Jon Reyes said he wants post-secondary institutions to be accountable for the public dollars they receive. The auditor general said in a 2020 report the amount of government oversight over post-secondary schools was lacking.

Reyes has said that consultations, which began in the spring, will inform which metrics are used locally.

In their letters, neither Benarroch nor Docherty said that an outcomes-based model could be achieved, and both raised objections to the government's approach.

A recent consultation guide from the advanced education department says possible metrics could include student completion, student progression, Indigenous student success, graduate employment, graduate earnings, external partnerships and financial management.

After a June 17 consultation meeting, Benarroch stressed a number of accountability mechanisms are already in place, including regular reporting to the province, according to his letter.

He says any new metrics must recognize the "different strengths and contributions among all Manitoba institutions," and should only consider areas post-secondary institutions have a say in. "Employment and earnings by graduates, for example, are not within the institutions' control," he wrote in his Aug. 2 letter.

He said divvying out funding based on certain measures can "come at a cost to other priorities, such as accessibility," since institutions may then prioritize students and programs most likely to benefit the labour market.

Such a funding arrangement can "also have the effect of punishing institutions for building programs that may not connect directly to these specific metrics, such as those that address equity and social justice."

Elsewhere, Brandon University's Docherty warned in his letter, dated Oct. 14, the province's measures could "distort [the] true performance" of his university.