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The University of Calgary is shuttering at least one department in its faculty of arts as the school grapples with a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.
The university’s department of classics and religion is expected to close by July 1 of this year.
Staff will be shuffled to other departments: faculty from the classics side will move to the history department, while religious studies faculty will be absorbed into the department of philosophy.
The university says students already enrolled will be able to complete their degrees with the same title and under the same academic requirements.
WATCH | Budget crunch at U of C means fewer faculty and sessional hires, program changes:
Budget crunch at U of C means fewer faculty and sessional hires, program changes
The faculty of arts is facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. At least one department is closing, programs will be streamlined, and hiring will be reduced as the school faces ‘compounding pressures.’
The department closure follows a pause on admissions for some classics and religion undergrad and graduate programs at the start of the academic year.
That pause caused anxiety among some students who worried what it would mean for their degrees, said Naomie Bakana, president of the university’s students’ union.
University under strain
In a statement, the university said the faculty of arts “is undertaking a comprehensive review of academic and operational commitments in response to budget constraints,” and “areas under review include reducing new faculty hires and reducing sessional appointments.”
Strained budgets have become a common concern at post-secondary institutions nationwide amid the federal government’s cuts to annual international student permits.
The University of Calgary told CBC News in November it is facing a $34.7 million shortfall this school year, following a $15.3 million financial hit the year prior.
Cost-of-living concerns and a tough job market have also influenced the types of programs to which prospective students gravitate, with some turning away from the arts and towards studies they feel could result in more guaranteed work.
“What we’ve been told is that the university hasn’t been seeing that much enrolment for students within these kinds of programs,” said Bakana. “So rather than offering a bachelor’s degree, they want to move it into a minor within another bachelor’s degree.”
Last month, the then-dean of the university’s faculty of arts sent an email to faculty members, where she wrote salary and benefit costs exceed the budget. Two faculty members independently shared the email with CBC News.
In the letter, Aoife Mac Namara said the faculty of arts finds itself in a “state of constant ‘firefighting,’” trying to maintain the current program load with an academic workforce that has shrunk in recent years.
“As we move forward, our goal is clear: mission over nostalgia,” said Mac Namara, who has since moved to a new role within the University of Calgary.
‘Streamlined paths of study’
The University of Calgary held a town hall Jan. 29, where the school’s financial challenges were discussed.
Provost Sandra Davidson said the university is constrained by rising costs alongside the provincial tuition cap that limits increases to two per cent annually.
She said there will be a focus now on determining how to potentially consolidate some of the current 46 undergraduate majors offered by the faculty of arts.
“How do we create streamlined paths of study that allow people to have specializations perhaps and still have the types of learning experience that they want, but not having and sustaining those different majors, but having larger buckets that allow students to progress?” Davidson said.
The university said in its statement that details of the faculty of arts review will be shared with faculty members once complete.