University of Alberta unveils strategic plan to boost enrollment by 35% in next decade

The city's and province's largest post-secondary institution has grand plans to become even larger over the next decade, fueled by supply and demand.

All the University of Alberta needs now is for the province to increase its funding.

Bill Flanagan, president and vice-chancellor of the 115-year-old Edmonton school, outlined the U of A's strategic plan to boost enrollment numbers by 35 per cent, from its current 44,000 student base to 60,000 within 10 years.

Of those 16,000, Flanagan said 10,000 would be domestic, primarily students from Alberta.

"We can do it just with the demographic growth rate here in Alberta," Flanagan said at an event launching the plan. "We want to be there for young Albertans to provide them with all of the opportunity they seek and all of the post-secondary learning opportunities they seek so that they can go forward in their careers and in their lives and stay in Alberta and see those opportunities right here in Alberta."

Along with the growth plan, the strategy advocates for the school's continued move upwards in global rankings to be among the world's top 50 research universities and top 3 in Canada.

Christian Fotang, president of the University of Alberta Students' Union, said his group wants to ensure students' needs are adequately serviced if numbers swell because of the school's "very ambitious plan."

"We have to make sure that experience — whether it's with housing, whether it's with academic support — that they have those things there for them," Fotang said. "And our role, as a students' union, is to make sure the university is pressured to have the resources needed to look after those students. It's going to take a lot of work with the university and with government and all stakeholders to provide those supports for students."

In order for the university to meet future demand, Flanagan said the provincial government "will have a very important role."

"We can only grow by 10,000 domestic students in partnership with the Government of Alberta," said Flanagan, adding the U of A would be looking for an additional $140 million per year from the government in addition to tuition revenue, which is capped. "Tuition won't cover the cost of educating these additional students, so we need to partner with the Government of Alberta to secure the funding to permit growth at this scale.

"I'm encouraged because the Minister of Advanced Education has said a number of times she's aware of the labour shortages in Alberta, we're a growing population, a growing economy, and we need to invest in providing young Albertans with all of the opportunities they seek right here at home so that they can have the careers and the lives that they want right here in Alberta."

In a statement, Minister of Advanced Education Rajan Sawhney said the Alberta government is committed to working with education stakeholders "to ensure we can meet forecasted workforce demands as our economy continues to grow and diversify and to keep Alberta moving forward," referencing recent provincial 'Targeted Enrolment Expansion' funding of $364 million to create 17,000 more enrollment spaces by 2026.

Sawhney also mentioned an increase in the monthly payment for the Alberta Student Grant to $425 "to help ease pressure on student budgets" and the availability of $1.1 billion from the province for student loans.

Flanagan acknowledged the province has already funded "substantial enrollment growth over the last two years" for the U of A. And while the university endured major budget cuts over a three-year period from 2020-22 that saw it lose $222 million in government funding, Flanagan — who was appointed the school's 14th president in September 2020 — said the recent funding boost came due to an increase in enrolment and subsequent expenses.

"It isn't really a question of compensating for the cuts — the cuts are passed, and we restructured in order to deal with the cuts," he said. "We're in a strong position going forward. As we obtain more funding, what we're going to be able to do is invest in the faculty, staff, resources and facilities to accommodate the additional students."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti