May 20, 2020

Medicine Hat College’s (MHC) Board of Governors approved the operating budget for the 2020-2021 school year at last night’s board meeting. The budget establishes a leaner organization to achieve a reduction of expenditures as mandated by the provincial government.

“Our purpose is to serve learners and communities in our region regardless of the challenges imposed by the external environment. Working through the fiscal targets that have been set by government has led to difficult, but necessary decisions, that affect our most treasured asset, people,” explains Kevin Shufflebotham, president and CEO.

Decreases in funding include a reduction of $540,000 to MHC’s Campus Alberta Grant for the coming year. More challenging for the college are recently-imposed expenditure reduction targets of $6,000,000 by 2022/23.

As a result, five programs have been suspended including Education Assistant, Addictions Counselling, Dual Social Work/Addictions Counselling, Bachelor of Business Administration, and University Transfer Engineering. It is important to note that all students currently enrolled in the suspended programs for the 2020/2021 academic year will be given the opportunity over a period of time to complete their studies.

While far from desirable, necessity has forced decisions to be made based on a wide array of factors including student demand, completion and employment rates, program and service costs, and more. As majority of MHC’s budget relates to salaries, achieving the imposed targets without impacting positions in faculty, support, and management groups was impossible.

Through a combination of voluntary leave program and permanent layoffs, MHC has reduced staffing by the equivalent of 41.2 full-time positions. All staff and faculty impacted by decisions made through the annual budget process have been informed.

In addition to permanent job loss attributable to the budget, eleven MHC employees have been affected by temporary layoffs due to the pandemic.

“We know this process has been difficult, especially at a time when so many other factors are affecting our professional and personal lives. Medicine Hat College is grateful for the tremendous commitment and contributions of all its employees,” says Shufflebotham.

“The college continues to serve students this spring, and are planning to offer our full array of programs this fall. We will adapt to COVID-19 precautions as necessary and provide a positive learning environment for our students this fall.”