Alberta’s post-secondary system is at a turning point. Graduate students, who play a large role in post-secondary research and teaching, are funded at levels that no longer cover the cost of living.
In a paper submitted to Minister of Advanced Education Myles McDougall, Minister of Finance Nate Horner, Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish and the Expert Panel on Post-Secondary Institution Funding and Alberta’s Competitiveness, the University of Calgary Graduate Students’ Association (UCGSA), argues that this underfunding is driving talent out of the province, weakening Alberta’s research output, and hurting the quality of undergraduate education.
To fix this, the students propose a three-tier, merit-based scholarship model that mirrors federal Tri-Council programs but adds incentives for interdisciplinary and industry-linked research.
The plan could be revenue-neutral, by reducing demand for student aid and generating economic activity through research.
The scholarship program would reward the top 25 per cent, 5 per cent, and 1 per cent of graduate researchers with progressively higher awards, up to $24,000 per year for the best-performing PhD students.
Andrew Kemle, Government and External Relations Manager for UCGSA, said the three-tiered approach would increase stipends for as many graduate students as possible.
“In addition to their other forms of income, graduate students wouldn’t have to live together in an apartment with five other people to try and save money on rent (with the tiered system),” he said.
The tiered system could not only act as a retention tool, but also as a recruitment tool.
“There’s both the monetary element and hopefully the symbolic element to say, ‘hey, we have this very lucrative meritorious scholarship program in Alberta,’” Kemle said.
“It would show how much we value graduate student research, so they can come here and be rest assured that their work is going to be well respected.”
Current underfunding is felt system-wide
Through comparative looks into other institutions, widespread grad student surveys, and conversations with members, UCGSA leadership has found many of Alberta’s grad students are taking on high levels of debt.
“It’s not quite as bad as the United States in some instances, but certainly it’s higher than the Canadian average, and that does cause labor market distortions as far as what graduate students’ career choices are post graduation,” Kemle said.
“But we’ve also seen that this is an incentive for graduate students and potential graduate students to move elsewhere. One of the things that we point out is that there’s a pretty substantial gap in the number of graduate students on a per capita basis in Canada relative to other countries, we found that even amongst Canadian provinces, Alberta is particularly low in that regard, too.”
Kemle stated that Alberta’s stipends for graduate students are currently uncompetitive both nationally and internationally. As graduate students play a significant role in the research and teaching components of universities, UCGSA believes this is contributing to the uncompetitiveness of the post-secondary sector in Alberta.
Recruitment aside, the consistent underfunding has taken a toll on graduate students.
Kemle said that when money is tight, mental health suffers.
“Whether that’s from having to make trade-offs as far as spending habits, if you’re hungry, or you’re housing insecure, it’s going to be harder for you to put forward the best research possible,” he said.
“It’s also going to be harder for you to show up to the classroom, if you’re a teacher’s assistant or a sessional and really give your best to the undergraduates that you’re responsible for as well, so that can affect undergraduate education then a sort of vicious cycle where the university education in Alberta is not as high quality as it could be.”
