Renewed Mandate for Commission
Education Minister Jamie Muir introduced legislation today, Oct. 1, to replace the act that now governs the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission (MPHEC) and to strengthen regional co-operation in higher education.
The proposed Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission Act better reflects the commission's renewed and refocused mandate. The commission has been operating under a new mandate since 1997 when the three provinces signed a memorandum of understanding for regional co-operation.
"Working together with the other provinces as a member of the MPHEC makes sense for our students, our universities and the province," said Education Minister Jamie Muir. "The Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission helps ensure our students continue to benefit from quality programs and our universities have the solid information they need to help with long-term planning."
MPHEC is an agency of the Council of Atlantic Premiers.
Under its current mandate, MPHEC has four core functions.
It approves new university programs and monitors the quality of existing programs for continuous improvement. The approvals and monitoring ensure quality programs are offered at Maritime institutions and reduce duplication.
The commission collects, maintains and distributes information about the post-secondary education system in the Maritimes. It also conducts commissioned research. Projects include graduate surveys and accessibility studies. These functions support public accountability and inform the development of effective post- secondary education policies, programs and initiatives.
Finally, MPHEC facilitates the transfer of funds between provinces for specialty programs such as medicine at Dalhousie, forestry in New Brunswick and veterinary science in Prince Edward Island.
The new MPHEC legislation is one of many provincial initiatives underway to enhance regional co-operation and post-secondary education. The province is continuing to work with university presidents on a memorandum of understanding. The understanding will provide three-year funding to help universities to minimize tuition increases and to help support long range planning.
The province is also working with other Atlantic provinces on a proposal to the federal government to help universities address the cost of maintaining buildings.
The Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission is funded by the provinces and reports to the ministers responsible for post- secondary education. There are eleven universities in Nova Scotia. As a result, the province to provides 52 per cent of the MPHEC funding. The province's contribution was more than $580,000 in 2004-05.
Legislation to renew the MPHEC mandate was introduced and assented to in P.E.I. in 2002 and New Brunswick in 2003. It was first introduced in the Nova Scotia Legislature in spring of 2002 (Bill 104). It received second reading, but did not receive third reading. Proclamation of the legislation will be co-ordinated among the three provinces.