Today’s official ratification of a new faculty agreement at the University of Northern British Columbia makes UNBC the first research-intensive university in British Columbia to end mandatory retirement for faculty members, librarians, and senior lab instructors.

“The University and faculty association negotiations were highly collegial and both of us saw this outcome as a win-win,” says Howard Brunt, Vice-President Academic and Provost at UNBC. “Beyond the philosophical and moral arguments against age discrimination, we feel that forcing some of our most productive teachers and researchers to retire when they are at the peak of their careers makes little sense.”

As with virtually all professions and skilled technicians and trades people, universities anticipate a growing challenge replacing retiring faculty members over the coming decade. Under the terms of the new agreement, members of the Faculty Association between 60 and 67 years of age can elect to phase into retirement over a period of up to three years by annually reducing their workload in 25% increments. According to Dr. Brunt, this will assist both the university and the academic employees to flexibly plan for the future. The experience in other provinces without mandatory retirement is that most academics still retire in their early to mid-60s and those who stay longer continue to have very active research programs.

The new Faculty Association agreement is effective July 1 for a period of four years. The tentative agreement was reached in March.

The membership voted 89% in favour of the agreement. It has also been approved by the Board of Governors. In addition to dealing with mandatory retirement, the negotiations also dealt with other policy matters of mutual interest to the University and the Association. Matters related to compensation were resolved earlier in the year.