Alberta's universities want some of the surplus
by Gilbert A. Bouchard
Alberta's universities joined together in a forceful advocacy campaign aimed at increasing the profile of university education in provincial spending priorities.
The Alberta government, after retiring its provincial debt earlier this summer to much fanfare, commissioned a province-wide survey asking citizens how they want to reallocate the funds from the ever-growing surplus. The survey is viewed by many observers as a pre-election tactic by Premier Ralph Klein, who's expected to call an election either this fall. Albertans were asked to prioritize a variety of budget items including health care, education, infrastructure, and issues concerning rural and urban maintenance and growth.
When they learned of the upcoming survey in late July, the province's four universities came together quickly for an advocacy push, reminding Albertans of the overall importance and far-reaching impact of university education. The University of Alberta, University of Lethbridge, University of Calgary and Athabasca University ran a high-intensity campaign of radio and print ads, starting just before Labour Day and lasting until the survey deadline of Sept. 24. They also lobbied their own staff, students and alumni in an attempt to keep university education top-of-mind as Albertans filled out their surveys.
The tagline of the campaign was "Higher education makes all of the above possible." The ads noted that university education addresses all the priority areas listed in the provincial government's survey.
"We want the average Albertan and the government to understand how important university education is to the economic well-being of the province as well as their everyday lives, and [important] in every way, from our research touching people working in the oil patch and raising cattle to producing the teachers you have in classroom and the artists you see on stage," said Susan Green, University of Alberta vice-president, external relations. "We wanted to state that higher education contributes to the issues you care about."
For University of Lethbridge President Bill Cade, the ads go a long way to underline the key role the province's universities play in the region's economic success.
"If you don't have an educated population you won't have the rest" of the priorities on the survey, said Dr. Cade, noting, as an example, that university education is key to a viable health-care system.
