Lakehead University trying to meet sustainability challenges head-on

Lakehead University president Brian Stevenson says running a university these days is definitely a balancing act.

On the one hand, students need the latest and greatest technology and tools to enter the workforce with the best possible education in their back pockets.

But someone’s got to pay for it and the fiscally challenged province is constantly looking for ways to cut spending, including for post-secondary education.

“I think it’s a balancing act because we have to try to fulfill a lot of different needs with a lot of constraints,” Stevenson said on Thursday, before delivering the Thunder Bay school’s 2013-14 annual report to the community at an on-campus breakfast gathering.

“As you know, we are trying to reach out to the community with programs that are going to be connected to the economy and try to help support and create jobs, while at the same time we have financial constraints and challenges that we have to face.”

School officials estimate Lakehead has a $318-million economic impact from its operating expenditures alone on the local economy.

The school received $22.7 million in research funding in 2013-14 and listed capital assets worth $303.3 million as of April 30, up more than $12 million from the year prior.

The university brought in $177 million in revenue in 2013-14, $57 million of which was attributed to student fees. Total revenue was about $14.7 million more than it spent, double the surplus the school enjoyed a year ago.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges, says chairman of the board Murray Walberg.

“We understand there are headwinds in front of us, with government funding, with the demographics of an aging population. But they’re exciting (times) because I think the university is really responding to those challenging times with a really inspirational strategic plan which talks about how we can make tough choices and grow our university,” Walberg said.

Part of the growth will be reaching out internationally for new students and inward, seeking more Aboriginal youth.

Not all the news is good, Walberg acknowledged.

“Our education program has been scaled down. The government is only funding so many spots and we have a large faculty of education,” he said.

“That’s a key challenge for us.”

The theme of the annual report was environmental, financial and social sustainability.

Guest speaker David Greenwood, director of Lakehead’s Centre for Place and Sustainability Studies, said no institution in this day and age can afford to remain stagnant. It’s the schools that learn to adapt that will survive, he added.

“(Universities) are actually designed for a century in which we no longer live in. And I’m not talking about the 20th century,” Greenwood said.

Stevenson said on that front, he thinks Lakehead is thriving.

“This is a university that’s connected to the community,” he said.