Stable university funding vital for Alberta's future growth - RYAN DUNCH, EDMONTON JOURNA

Now, as the province grapples with competing demands on the public purse, further pressure on the university budget is likely and the burden of cuts will be felt most heavily in programs like East Asian studies and other arts departments that lack large donor pools or alter-native sources of revenue. Tough times may mean tough decisions, but cutting back on the arts, humanities and social sciences is perilous public policy for very practical reasons. In our age of economic globalization and political uncertainties, producing graduates with a broad global vision and in-depth knowledge of one or two foreign languages or scholarly disciplines is a vital hedge against instability.