The president and CEO of Loyalist College did not pull any punches in regards to the state of post-secondary education.
Earlier this week the Belleville-based college announced it would be trimming 30% of the programs and eliminating 20% of staff.
Mark Kirkpatrick says Ontario spends the least amount of money (per full-time equivalent student) in Canada.
Audio Player“I think the decisions they’re making, including post-secondary, really is an attack on rural Ontario and its future. There are so many key pieces of infrastructure that are now suffering from lack of funding, that it really puts into question the future and the ability for rural Ontario and small town Ontario to be successful.”
The CEO says Ontario colleges were able to offset the low funding by enrolling international students.
He says on January 22, 2024 when the federal government announced a limit on new study permits for international students, that all changed.
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Students walking outside the library at Belleville’s Loyalist College
Kirkpatrick says the writing has been on the wall since then.
Audio Player“The messaging coming from the federal government created such a negative perception of Canadian education across the world, that the caps have become irrelevant. There are no students interested in studying in Canada anymore.”
Loyalist College will allow the students currently enrolled to finish their programs, however, no new students will be accepted to cut courses.
The following programs are affected:
- Architectural Technician
- Architectural Technology
- Biotechnology – Advanced
- Business – Finance and Analytics
- Carpentry and Renovation Technician
- Chemical Engineering Technician
- Chemical Engineering Technology
- Civil Engineering Technology
- Cloud Computing
- Computer Software and Database Development
- Culinary Skills
- Culinary Management
- Environmental Technician
- Environmental Technology
- Esthetics and Spa Management
- Financial Technology
- Global Business Management
- Global Project Management
- Manufacturing Engineering Technician
- Motive Power Technician – Service and Management
- Protection, Security and Investigation
- Public Relations – Event Management
- Recreation and Leisure – Sports
- Wireless Information Networking
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An overhead shot of Loyalist College
He says once the students from other countries stopped applying, it exposed the real problem.
Audio Player” … which is the lack of provincial funding from the provincial government for post-secondary, especially in rural Ontario, where we have many more challenges than a lot of places and our cost of deliveries are higher.”
There are two ways the province funds public post-secondary education.
Audio Player“One is our General Purpose Grant. That General Purpose Grant for the province of Ontario has not changed in ten years. The other area where we generate revenue from domestic students is tuition. Well we all know there’s a tuition freeze in place and it’s been frozen at 2015 levels.”
Students will be able to complete their programs before they are ended.
