Future students won’t be able to obtain a bachelor of music degree or jazz diploma at Vancouver Island University if proposed cuts go ahead.
The university has proposed reducing academic spending by 10% and non-academic by 5% in the next two fiscal years. Phil Dwyer, a Juno-winning jazz performer with a decades-long relationship with VIU’s music department, said the school’s music programs are nationally renowned and are an important part of the music community in central Vancouver Island. “This was supposed to be a turnaround year,” he said in reference to the planned September relaunch of the school’s jazz diploma. “It seems like the rug got pulled out from underneath.
“The measures VIU is putting in place with our Deficit Mitigation Plan are all focused on helping VIU continue to meet the needs of learners in our region and continue to deliver the high-quality education that is expected,” it said, adding that all currently enrolled students will be supported in completing their studies.
After this article was first published, VIU communications director Gillian Robinson provided annual salary expenditure figures showing that salaries for the university’s administrative bargaining unit grew from $12.3 million to $18 million in the past ten years, equivalent to a 46 per cent increase.