Newman College begins to phase out baccalaureate degree

Million plus deficit prompts programs, potential staff cuts

- WCR file photo Newman Theological College is phasing out its baccalaureate and certificate programs.

By LASHA MORNINGSTAR
News Editor
Edmonton

Newman Theological College is phasing out its baccalaureate program.

Newman’s President Bryn Kulmatycki said Tuesday the program was causing the college to run at a deficit of over a million dollars a year.

“This has been consistent for some time now,” said Kulmatycki, “Archbishop Richard Smith asked me to do a cost analysis of our academic programs . . . and the board asked me to present a plan as to how we might make some changes.”

The decision must be made quickly, said Kulmatycki, because “we are building a new facility.”

Report accepted

Kulmatycki said he made his report Monday to the board with 10 recommendations, the most significant being that the baccalaureate and certificate programs are not cost effective and the proposal to phase them out was accepted.

“We are actually a graduate school as opposed to a baccalaureate,” said the president. “The seminarians need to have their M Divs. (Masters of Divinity) to be ordained and we also provide master level courses for 175 teachers and administrators throughout Alberta.”

Not accredited

One must also factor in too the fact the baccalaureate program offered at Newman is not an accredited program which mean it does not qualify for provincial funding.

“It is a program developed mainly to serve the internal needs at Newman,” said Kulmatycki, “and has been developed by our accrediting agency out of the United States. They are aware we have it but they do not sanction undergraduate programs.

“We could apply for provincial funding, but that would be very slow and a timeline might be somewhere between seven to 10 years and we can’t wait that long.”

The president noted that other institutions in Edmonton such as St. Joseph’s College are already providing some of the programs Newman offers and that “the certificate programs could be picked up by various groups such as The Providence Centre.”

Kulmatycki underlined Newman will “work hard with each of our students currently involved in all of our programs to make sure their program is not compromised and that they are not being disenfranchised in any way. We are not going to abandon them.

Accomodating students

“We are in the middle of negotiations with St. Joseph’s College to see what they can do to help us with our baccalaureate students.”

Talks are also in progress with other institutions, said the president.

The loss of programs also means staff cuts – “professional staff, support and admin staff, all along the line.

“Any time you are doing reorganization, there will be reason for staff to be apprehensive and anxiety will set in,” agreed Kulmatycki. “When you are making these types of decisions — they are very difficult decisions — sometimes we have to make them to insure the future of your organization. This is going to be a difficult time until this is all sorted out.”

The president said he could not comment on who would lose their jobs because, “right now there are too many unknowns to really be specific.”

Sooner rather than later

The timeline for the changes is not set.

“I am not sure how quickly we can pull this off but it will be sooner rather than later, “ said Kulmatycki.

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