'Massive job losses' at FNUC disappointing: U of R faculty associationWhile one might not like the CBC, at least they
put some things in perspective:
Major job cuts were announced at First Nations University of Canada on Thursday, bringing to 46 the total number of staff and faculty positions eliminated in recent months.
The total includes 29 people who were laid off Thursday morning. Another 17 positions have been eliminated over the past few months through vacancies, retirements and resignations, FNUC officials said.
Although officials wouldn't say what percentage of staff and faculty were cut, the 46 positions represent about 22 per cent of the 210 employees that were on the FNUC payroll in February.
Now, let's put things in BETTER perspective:
Approximately 20 per cent of university's 500 students are expected to be affected by the changes.
Even if you take the CBC's number of 824 students, that means that there are still approximately 1 employee of FNUC left for every 5 students.
Now I don't know much about university management, and I'm rather cynical about most things government related, but having a ratio such as this is absolutely excessive. Even if one took the enrollment numbers of 1500 students (this was the estimate in May that I heard), we're still talking about 1 employee for every 10 students.
Now let's be real, I know that it's important for First Nations to educate themselves so that they can be productive members of society. I know that FNUC is a way to achieve that goal (although if truth were known, FNUC only represents 20% of First Nations students - the rest are enrolled in real programs at U of S, U of R, Siast and SIIT). I do have to object to the sense of entitlement that objects to the cutting of fat and the loss of jobs on an institution so poorly run in the past as this one.
I applaud the university's president and support this decision as well as many other decisions that make the university run like a real institution.
In a perfect world, universities could afford an employee for every five students.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a perfect world. I hope FNUC pulls through and survives, but it needs to put its affairs in order.
In a perfect world, a university would only need 1 employee for every 1000 students.
ReplyDeletePost-secondary education isn't about providing guaranteed jobs for "smart people" who schooled themselves out of the job market, post-secondary is about teaching students how to think rationally and preparing them for the job market. I sincerely hope that FNUC gets it's house in order, but I would be surprised if there aren't more layoffs coming.