N.S. universities focus of report

Aconsultant's report on how Nova Scotia should fund its universities is expected on Friday.

The NDP government hired Tim O'Neill, a former Bank of Montreal executive, to recommend how the province's 11 universities can be more effective and sustainable.

The province spends $350 million a year supporting these schools. However, the cost of a university education in Nova Scotia remains one of the highest in the county, despite a three-year freeze on tuition.

At $5,495, the average undergraduate tuition in Nova Scotia is the third highest, behind Ontario and New Brunswick, according to the latest numbers from Statistics Canada. But graduate students pay $2,000 a year more than their counterparts outside the province.

There are more than 40,000 university students in Nova Scotia. O'Neill's job is to determine whether those numbers can be maintained and at what price.

Jim Guy, a professor at Cape Breton University, said he hopes the O'Neill report will force universities to change the way they do business.

"To what extent would degrees be more affordably offered if there was more co-ordination within a provincial system? And why do university administrations keep growing when student populations are in facteroding?" he said.

University mergers?

A study released 15 years ago recommended several ways to reduce costs, from merging universities to cutting duplicate degree programs.

The Council of Nova Scotia University Presidents is waiting to see the O'Neill report before deciding what to do.

"I would rather prefer tolook at it as a glass half-full scenario, to better leverage the university system as greater contributor to economy and society," said Peter Halpin, the council's executive director.

Premier Darrell Dexter won't commit to extending the tuition freeze or increasing student bursaries until he sees the report.

"It will frame much of the context for universities, student tuition, those issues," he said Thursday. "The big question for us will be access to loans, bursaries."

The province will release the O'Neill report at noon.