AIBA c/o Todd Nickle Department of Biology, Mount Royal University 4825 Mount Royal Gate Calgary, AB,

T3E 6K6 The Honourable Thomas Lukaszuk, M.L.A. Minister of Enterprise and Advanced Education 408 Legislature Building 10800-97 Ave Edmonton, AB, T5K 2B6 Dear Minister Lukaszuk; We are members of the Alberta Introductory Biology Association (AIBA), a group of over fifty dedicated educators who, in addition to our paid classroom duties, volunteer extra time and effort to coordinate and harmonize post-secondary opportunities for all students enrolled in biology programs at colleges and universities in Alberta. We are concerned about the erosion of the post-secondary education landscape in Alberta. Last years deep cuts were justified by claims that universities neither collaborate nor share their skills or resources, leading to inefficiencies. The AIBA is just one example of how these claims are unfounded. AIBA was started 15 years ago as an informal organization of post-secondary biology educators. We often share extra resources, for example granting microscopes that were obsolete at one institution to another which could effectively use them. We also support each other with expertise in teaching strategies, techniques, and other resources. We consolidate our curricula for enhanced transferability and to leverage student competencies from secondary school and between post-secondary institutions in Alberta. This ensures that biology students receive consistent high-quality education regardless of where they live in Alberta. The justification for last years budget cuts was to promote efficiencies. This strategy has failed in that regard and has only resulted in paltry government savings at the expense of our educational infrastructure. A very recent announcement regarding 50 million dollars to help us address access issues is welcome, but its important to remember this is only a small fraction of the budget that we were lead to expect prior to the actual budget release. We do not wish to seem ungrateful, but that amount of loose change (as you put it) does not undo the damage already caused, nor do we have a sense as to whether we will have the means to function well after the next budget comes down. You must be informed that, from where we stand, the financial situation is still dire despite the small cash infusion. Thank you for that, but please realize it is not nearly enough. If you really want to help undergraduate students and their programs, please recognize that most degree programs are four years long. Sufficient and sustained funding over those four years would be very helpful in giving institutions enough time to accommodate incoming students along with supporting their education for the duration. The one-time $50 million funding does little for students after they are enrolled. Mr. Lukaszuk, we hope to make you aware that the budget cuts have resulted in neither increased collaboration nor efficiencies at least not in the science fields we are involved in. The last budget hiccup resulted in loss of student opportunity and has reduced our ability to teach young Albertans effectively. Institutions have decreased their student intake. Biology courses at many institutions, MRU for example, have had to turn away qualified candidates. We do not agree that the term hiccup you once used reflects the devastation caused by these cuts. We urge you to please consider how these budget cuts reduce opportunities for Alberta students and the Alberta taxpayers who have invested in their futures. The dream of increased transferability has already been addressed in the long-standing 2-year block-transfer agreement. AIBA came into existence in part to facilitate the already

excellent transfer of biology credit between institutions. Very few students transfer from one institution to another: in part this is because they are happy with their education and their living arrangements. Forcing students to move to an institution with a monopoly on a particular program does not seem like a very free-enterprise or helpful strategy. For decades, universities and colleges in Alberta have built up facilities and filled them with gifted thinkers and educators who publish new ideas and challenge the status quo. Over decades, our institutions have responded to requests by the various Alberta Governments to create programs to address access issues and create opportunities for students. Development of these programs requires money not only for the facilities in which to run the programs, but also for recruitment of talent to train new students and for operational costs to keep the buildings open and stocked with research and teaching materials. This is an ongoing cost that must be carefully considered each year. Damage caused by underfunding includes cuts to programs and loss of staff. Underfunding squanders the money that was invested to date towards our future. Laboratory exercises, a backbone of experiential hands-on learning in the sciences, have been scaled back. Class sizes have increased. Teacher and student interactions have diminished with the higher workloads that have occurred as instructors take on larger cohorts of students as course sections are combined. Alberta taxpayers should be concerned that the money theyve spent over the years to create a first-rate educational system is in jeopardy. Taxpayers whose quality of life will depend on the work done by the graduates we produce should be very concerned about these kinds of cuts. Students and their parents who have paid taxes to Alberta throughout their working lives will not benefit from their earlier investments in Albertas colleges and universities. Damage has been done and this needs to stop. With the other demands for precious Alberta money particularly the catastrophic flood we experienced last summer we are concerned that you will again choose Alberta postsecondary schools as an easy target. Last years cuts have undone much of the infrastructure of Albertas post-secondary education system. The flood was a one-time event that must be cleaned up, but Alberta colleges and universities need sustained and continuing funding. Alberta Advanced Education is one of your portfolios, and you have the authority to act on this. We believe you have an obligation to defend our institutions from being damaged through underfunding. AIBA has members from institutions from across Alberta: Ambrose University College, Athabasca University, Concordia University College of Alberta, Grande Prairie Regional College, Lakeland College, MacEwan University, Medicine Hat College, Mount Royal University, Red Deer College, St. Mary's University College, the University of Alberta, the University of Alberta(Augustana), the University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge. We therefore have a broad perspective on the effect of the cuts made to our budgets. The sudden, unexpected cuts were devastating and unsustainable. Money promised to us before the budget was passed was necessary to maintain our position as leaders in academics and research. Not only did we not get that money, we were crippled by staggeringly large cuts to our programs. We urge the Government of Alberta to please protect our institutions from further wasting caused by budget cuts, and to reconsider the importance of the funding that was promised before the last budget. Please work with your colleagues in the Alberta Government to find new streams of revenue rather than balance the budget on the backs of students and postsecondary educators. We, the members of AIBA, have seen the damage done so far and ask that you recognize and protect Albertas post-secondary institutions from further harm. Sincerely, Dr. Todd Nickle President of AIBA