Suspension isn’t the only way to address resource insufficiencies, students claim.
On Dec. 12, the University announced it is examining the possibility of temporarily suspending admissions into the Master of Public Administration (MPA) and the Professional Master of Public Administration (PMPA) programs. Queen’s cited the programs’ cyclical reviews as reporting insufficient structural resources for the program.
Cyclical Program Review (CPR) follows an eight-year cycle to ensure Queen’s academic programs meet the University’s standards and are adequately resourced.
Thomas Goyer, co-chair of the MPA student executive, expressed concern with the program suspensions as he believes they don’t fix the insufficient resources. Goyer questioned if the suspension will bring reputational damage to Queen’s.
“From the resource perspective and looking at the resource issue within this [suspension], it doesn’t appear to solve any of these things. It only appears to be a step towards the program not existing anymore,” Goyer said.
Sarah Homsi, co-chair of the MPA student executive, rebutted the structural concerns brought on by Cyclical Program Review as a strength for the MPA program, specifically when considering the lack of tenured faculty. Homsi believes students learn from industry professionals.
If the program is suspended, students fear there will be reputational damage, with Queen’s losing connections with professionals in federal and provincial government. Fifty-three per cent of MPA graduates work for the Government of Canada or provincial governments.
“They should care that their graduates are moving on to influence public policy. I’m shocked they’re okay with potentially severing those ties,” Homsi said.
School of Policy Studies Director Warren Mabee has been advocating for structural changes to the School of Policy Studies by securing tenured faculty cross-appointed from other academic units.
“What we need to do is to find mechanisms to bring those people [faculty members] in so that they can take part in what we do now. That’s not always super easy, because there are internal barriers,” Mabee said in an interview with The Journal.
The suggested suspension can be attributed to the Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) which hasn’t allocated a sufficient number of permanent faculty members to the Faculty of Policy Studies, according to Mabee. Structural insufficiency is the driving factor of the decision.
While Mabee said the program has received some resources, he mentioned the absence of new faculty.
At first glance, the potential suspension is a budgetary issue. With the FAS facing a $37 million deficit, Homsi thinks the School of Policy Studies has fallen victim to the new budgetary measures.
READ MORE: University’s operating budget deficit lowered from $62.8 million to $48 million.
Goyer understands the financial constraints but wishes FAS supported the School of Policy Studies’ needs in previous years when it was in a stronger financial position.
“There’s a chance this would have not gotten to this stage, and the needs and resources of the program would potentially just have been met,” Goyer said.
A decision on the temporary suspension of the MPA and PMPA programs will be made in early February. Queen’s is currently accepting applications to the programs despite the potential of not admitting a class in the fall.
Tags
budget deficit, MPA, suspension
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