LETHBRIDGE -- Students at the University of Lethbridge had mixed reactions to the provincial government announcement that funding for post-secondary education will be tied to performance-based outcomes.

Institutions will receive funding determined by individual targets after consultation with students, instructors and administration.

Two University of Lethbridge students reacted with mixed feelings to the new model Monday.

“(It could be) effective that they will be able to asses (student) progression, (so that if they) get more jobs, (the university gets) more money,” said student Wes Bowie.

That perspective was not shared by a second student.

“It’s going to put pressure on professors, more pressure I should say, than they already have,” said Jessica Whidden.

This new model is designed to help students succeed, said Minister of Advanced Education Demetrios Nicolaides.

"This model will be non-competitive. Institutions will not compete against each other for taxpayer dollars. They will compete against themselves," he said.

Those target Indicators may include graduation and completion rates, post-graduate employment, enrolment, quality of teaching, and student satisfaction.

Post-secondary institutions that successfully reach all of their target goals will receive full funding. Institutions that do not, will have their funding pro-rated reflecting the percentages of its target that were met.

The soon-to-be-implemented system is intended to be results driven, however some students do see a potential downside to it.

“Some professor or students could work harder or do more and it could not go counting toward what they are recordings as their performance standard,” said Bowie.

“Arts are already not well recognizing as it is, and when this is implemented, they will kind of be shoved to the side,” said Whidden.

The amount of funding tied to performance outcomes will begin at 15 per cent for 2020-21 and steadily increase to a maximum of 40 per cent by 2022-23.