News Release

FREDERICTON (GNB) – The provincial government announced today that it will seek agreements with publicly-funded universities to fund pilot projects and commit to four-year predictability in both tuition for students and funding provided by government.

“Your government is listening and getting things done by delivering on a commitment to provide students and universities with predictability over a four-year period,” said Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Donald Arseneault. “This will help each of our publicly-funded universities to better plan and manage their budgets.”

Significant funding will be set aside in the government’s upcoming budget to fund pilot projects and provide modest funding increases for universities. As part of these agreements, the government will seek to limit tuition increases and have universities set out a four-year tuition schedule to help students in planning for their post-secondary education.

The government will seek to enter into memorandums of understanding with universities, recognizing each institution’s individual strengths and areas of expertise, to outline its predictable funding commitments. Part of these agreements, in keeping with a platform commitment, would include having the universities agree to appear annually before a legislative committee to report on their operations.