AB interference could risk collapse of AU: The Tyee

In an article by Charles Rusnell of The Tyee, two experts have argued that Alberta Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides’s actions risk the collapse of Athabasca University. Rusnell reports that The Tyee received leaked documents, in which the minister states that he has proposed changes to the university’s mandate and expects a signed IMA by the end of November. Distance learning expert and former AU board member Sir John Daniel panned Nicolaides’s handling of the file and commented that the ultimatum would cause “the collapse of the university in the short to medium term” through an exodus of senior executives. Daniel’s prediction was echoed by University of Toronto Professor Glen Jones, who called the situation the “most egregious political interference in a public university in Canada in more than 100 years.” Nicolaides reportedly did not respond to a request for comment. The Tyee Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.