HEALTH CARE
SASKATCHEWAN PHYSICIANS SUPPORT
COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
REFORM
to blame for the college’s current status.
“Most of our full-time faculty, this year, they’ve said that
they will spend less than five per cent of their time on undergraduate teaching,” he noted.
College of Medicine faculty receive full salaries unlike other
universities, creating a considerable drain on college funds;
funds that are more than adequate Phillipson points out. In
fact the college is far better funded than many comparable
schools and still does not perform on par.
“We have plenty of money,” Phillipson said. “We just don’t
spend it properly.”
U of S College of Medicine Vice-provost Martin Phillipson discusses the
challenges the school is facing at the fall 2013 Representative Assembly.
By Maria Derzko
T
he SMA Representative Assembly voted unanimously in
support of a resolution to back the College of Medicine’s
restructuring efforts at the SMA’s Representative Assembly
last fall.
On academic probation for the second time, the University
of Saskatchewan College of Medicine has wrapped up its
recovery strategy and is moving on to implementation with
the full support of Saskatchewan’s doctors.
Vice-provost Martin Phillipson joined the Assembly on November 2, 2013 and laid out a frank account of the problems
that led to the college being placed on probation and followed with the action plan currently being initiated to rectify those issues.
He highlighted mismanagement of funds and a “massive
problem” with faculty accountability as two of the key issues
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SMA NEWS DIGEST | SPRING 2014
Substandard performance of University of Saskatchewan
medical students on national standardized testing is another con