After budget slashed, U of C eyes ways to raise funds

The president of the University of Calgary says her institution will be looking for every possible way to save money and raise more in the wake of deep provincial budget cuts.

Operational grants for Alberta colleges and universities arebeing slashedby about $147 million for next year, a drop of almost seven per cent. The U of C's operational budget will shrink by $32 million.

At a town hall meeting on Thursday night Elizabeth Cannon told students school officials have been poring over the numbers and have come up with several initiatives to mitigate the cuts.

"One of the things that we haven't done is put a focus on international recruitment," she said.

"Its not so much about revenue generation. Its about what's right for this campus and to ensure that we have a diversity of students, both at undergraduate and graduate level. Right now we have about five per cent international, we'd like to grow that to ten," Cannon said.

Nonewtuition increasesarescheduled beyond a 2.15 per cent jump slated for September, and a plan to hire 50 new faculty members is still on-track, she said.

Earlier this week the university also announced aone-year wage freezefor its leadership team.