Province restores $20M accreditation funding to U of S

The University of Saskatchewan is recouping some of the money cut by the provincial government in the spring budget.

The province announced Thursday they would be restoring $20 million in funding to the university’s college of medicine. U of S officials said the money would go towards maintaining the college’s national accreditation.

Accreditation involves a peer review from other medical schools across the country. The officials will come to the college at the end of October to interview over 200 people and assess the school’s performance in medical sciences.

Minister of Advanced Education Kevin Doherty said the province restored the funding after realizing “how critical that particular process is for this particular college.”

Doherty said the funding will help the college remain an accredited medical school and “train the next generation of physicians to serve the health care needs of the people of this province.”

Dean of Medicine Dr. Preston Smith said the school already has 95 per cent of the preparation done for their accreditation meetings.