本帖最后由 Timur 于 2009-6-17 00:08 编辑
Winnipeg Freepress May 22 A4
THE University of Manitoba has hit international students with higher fees but avoided staff layoffs and major cuts in its 2009-2010 budget.
\"This was not a drastic year,\" president David Barnard said in an interview Thursday. \"We\'re expecting in the next couple of years there\'ll be more pressure on the budget.\"
Some jobs could be left vacant and some departments and faculties have been told to find a one per cent spending cut, Barnard said.
The Doer government increased the university\'s operating grant by 4.5 per cent, and lifting the tuition freeze raised the fees students will pay by 4.5 per cent. How much money that generates depends on enrolment in September.
\"We did free up a small pool of money\" to spend where necessary by asking many parts of the campus to find reductions of one per cent, Barnard said.
International students already have been paying 2.7 times as much as a Canadian student for undergraduate courses.
That will increase to 3.2 times as much come September.
Specifically, international students have been paying $810 for each three credit hours, and that will increase to $987. A maximum course load is 30 credit hours.
Barnard said the provincial government has warned that finances could be tighter in the next couple of years.
U of M Students Union president Sid Rashid said students understand that the university had a tough time bringing in a budget this year.
\"The budget is a tough process, especially in these economic times,\" he said.
But Rashid warned that students will show their displeasure about the hike in international student fees when they return to campus in September.
\"It\'s unfortunate to see the international student fees go up yet again,\" he said.
The University of Winnipeg is also facing a tough challenge to balance its budget. The U of W has asked employees for concessions, including contributions to endowment funds hit hard by the economic decline, when its budget goes before the U of W regents June 22. |
