# Cost Cutting Reaches into the Ivory Tower



## R.C. (9 Apr 2013)

From today's Globe & Mail, for those interested...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawas-cost-cutting-casts-shadow-over-royal-military-colleges-future/article10920213/


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## McG (9 Apr 2013)

Everyone is taking a hit.  Military colleges should not be any different.  We could stand to roll the colleges in St Jean and Toronto into the Kingston RMC, and we could probably stand to reduce our ROTP intake in favour of more DEO.


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## Canadian.Trucker (9 Apr 2013)

As MCG stated, the whole of DND is being reviewed for financial streamlining/cutbacks, RMC is not isolated in these.


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## jwtg (9 Apr 2013)

The content of the article deals more with the structure of the governance of the college, and the tension between academic freedom and federal oversight, than it does with cost-cutting.  Budget reduction is simply the stage upon which this conflict is being analyzed.


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## Strike (9 Apr 2013)

Sounds very much like an argument between the civilian arm of the college and DND, which is a battle that's been going on for decades.

I also don't see how a report put together by alumni can really be independent.  The chances of them being affected by their own biases from when they went to the school and were staff there (Sloan, as I recall, spent time as a Sqn comd I believe) are probably going to show in the report.  We've seen it in retired sr officers when they write reports about how the CF should conduct business.


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## dapaterson (9 Apr 2013)

So, whiny entitled university professors ignore the fact that the Royal Military College of Canada is a unit of the Canadian Forces.

RMC is not a civilian university; its goals and objectives are not the same as civilian universities; and its structure and breadth is dictated by military requirement.  It is long past time for a comprehensive review and cull of useless programs.

For example: Why does RMC offer an MBA program?  What business experience do military officers bring?  Don't they do public administration?  Why can't that education be acquired from other sources?


RMC is the most expensive university in Canada, per capita.  If there are ways to reduce the cost they should be embraced.  Of course, when it's the teacher's association writing the report, I'm not surprised that they oppose any reductions.


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## Journeyman (9 Apr 2013)

dapaterson said:
			
		

> Of course, when it's the teacher's association writing the report, I'm not surprised that they oppose any reductions.


To be fair, it's an "independent" panel of RMC alumni, writing _for_ the teachers' association, hence the complete absence of bias making it an "arm's length" report.


Want to hear about the great deal I got buying some swamp land?   :nod:


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## dapaterson (9 Apr 2013)

Full report is available online at: http://www.caut.ca/uploads/RMC_Commission_report_final.pdf

And, to engage in some self-criticism, the G&M piece is goes further than the report does; the report is largely focused on status quo issues between faculty and administration, and the degree of influence faculty should have internally.  It's the G&M that spun it into "The sky is falling! Money is being cut!" My critiques (above) should be read more as a critique of the G&M article than the CAUT report.


I will observe that, in a discussion of hierarchy, it would have been useful to refer to the MOO and CFOO; to omit those from your analysis is a glaring oversight.


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