One long-serving official, who had had the opportunity of observing the interaction of provincial officials with university officials for many years, identified several factors that may help explain the nature of the government-university relationship. Deputy and assistant deputy ministers have complex and demanding jobs and tend to serve for relatively short periods in any given department. Those serving in the department or ministry of higher education may have little understanding of how universities are governed and how that constrains the authority of presidents and boards and may apply to universities approaches originating in other sectors. Finally, governments and universities operate on different time scales. Whereas change visions every time a new government is and senior “governments elected”, officials naturally pursue what ministers want, universities tend to have longer-term agendas. A number of university board members and senior administrators commented on the difference in the time horizons of universities and governments. A board chair described the mission of the university as a great future for need to produce “creating society” whereas “governments satisfaction in the very short term in order to get re-elected.” An Alberta official identified another factor: that, in a province like Alberta, whose has changed very “revenue reality dramatically on an annual the need for resource stability as well as the expectations of basis, …] resource availability from institutions necessarily match up with ability to don’t government’s provide that level of stability on an annual basis”.
One long-serving official, who had had the opportunity of observing the interaction of provincial officials with university officials for many years, identified several factors that may help explain the nature of the government-university relationship. Deputy and assistant deputy ministers have complex and demanding jobs and tend to serve for relatively short periods in any given department. Those serving in the department or ministry of higher education may have little understanding of how universities are governed and how that constrains the authority of presidents and boards and may apply to universities approaches originating in other sectors. Finally, governments and universities operate on different time scales. Whereas “governments change visions every time a new government is elected”, and senior officials naturally pursue what ministers want, universities tend to have longer-term agendas. A number of university board members and senior administrators commented on the difference in the time horizons of universities and governments. A board chair described the mission of the university as “creating a great future for society” whereas “governments need to produce satisfaction in the very short term in order to get re-elected.” An Alberta official identified another factor: that, in a province like Alberta, whose “revenue reality has changed very dramatically on an annual basis, …] the need for resource stability as well as the expectations of resource availability from institutions don’t necessarily match up with government’s ability to provide that level of stability on an annual basis”.
Provincial_Oversight.docx