The president of the University of Waterloo has apologized over the way his administration recently handled a controversial donation from Microsoft Canada.

President David Johnston admitted that the deal reached with Microsoft should have been approved by the university's senate.

"We have strong policies here at Waterloo regarding curriculum changes and academic freedom and we are gratified to see the administration is adhering to those policies," said Catherine Schryer, president of the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo.

University officials unleashed a storm of controversy earlier this year when they announced a new partnership with Microsoft in which the university was to receive $2.3 million over five years from the Microsoft Academic Innovation Alliance to fund teaching and research programs.

Critics were concerned that in exchange for the funding, the university would be required to use a new Microsoft programming language called C# (sharp) as the primary component of the university's first-year computer programming course. As well, all high school students admitted to the electrical and computer engineering program would have to take an on-line introductory course in Microsoft's language.

In a strongly worded letter to Johnston in August, Schryer said faculty were concerned the Microsoft agreement involved curriculum changes that should have been approved by the senate. She also expressed concerns that the academic freedom of the faculty members involved in teaching C# could be compromised and that the university could be perceived as endorsing Microsoft's products.

At a senate meeting in September, Johnston agreed with the criticisms and announced that the university and Microsoft had signed a supplementary memorandum of agreement to help address the concerns of faculty and staff.

The agreement states that before any curriculum decisions are made, the university "will seek all necessary approvals from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Program Committee, Faculty of Engineering Admissions Committee, Faculty of Engineering Academic Committee, Faculty of Engineering Undergraduate Studies Committee, Year 1 Implementation Committee, Senate Undergraduate Council, UW Registrar's Office and the senate as required by UW policy and practice."

UW has a year to go through formal decision-making processes about the use of C# in electrical and computer engineering and let Microsoft know whether that project is going ahead.

Schryer says the agreement is a major victory for faculty members.

"During the Microsoft controversy, we pointed out to the administration on several occasions that the deal appeared to contravene university policies," she said.

"The memorandum of agreement with Microsoft makes it clear that those policies govern the actions of the university, and we are pleased to see a public statement to that effect. The vice-president and provost has also agreed to initiate a process wherein deals such as the Microsoft one will be vetted far more carefully. We look forward to learning the details of this process."