The Loyalist College Board of Governors voted on Thursday to confirm a series of program suspensions.
The suspended programs will stop taking in new students, while students in those programs will be able to take their full schedule of courses and graduate as originally planned.
Programs that are suspended in this way can be reactivated in the future.
Loyalist College president and CEO Mark Kirkpatrick said that a federal cap on international student visas is a driving factor in the college’s loss of revenue.
“A significant amount of our revenue loss has been with the ongoing closure of our Toronto campus, which is one of the private college public partnerships that the current federal government policy, as suggested, we have to close,” said Kirkpatrick. “As we go into next fiscal, we’re anticipating just here in Belleville, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1500 less international students.”
Despite the program suspensions and a 20% reduction in staffing, the college is still facing a $1.5 million budget shortfall for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The suspended programs include:
- 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 Services – Sports
-
Wireless Information Networking
Students and staff recently held a rally at the campus, criticizing chronic underfunding of Ontario’s colleges by the provincial government.
