Confederation College looks to bring in more out-of-market students

The president of Confederation College says future success at the school could be judged by the number of out-of-region students the Thunder Bay school is able to attract.

Jim Madder, in a state-of-the-college address made Thursday morning, said school officials are working hard to convince students from overseas, elsewhere in Canada and in particular, the Greater Toronto Area, that Confederation College is a viable study option.

This past school year the college had 468 international learners, slightly less than six per cent of the student body. 

About 490 more came from southern Ontario.

Madder acknowledged relying on the Northwestern Ontario population alone will not get the job done and could ultimately lead to dire consequences.

He’s hoping it never comes to that.

“One of our greatest challenges is the percentage of youth is expected to decline one to three per cent for the next eight years. If we don’t replace those students, we’re going to lose programs and services,” Madder said.

Part of the plan is to convince students in the rest of the province to consider a move to the north. Perhaps they couldn’t get into their program of choice at Humber College or Algonquin College, for instance, Madder said.

Often it’s out of sight, out of mind.

“I never thought of it,” Madder said of the reaction of many southern Ontario students presented with the option of choosing Confederation College.

The college, which was forced to lay off about 15 employees earlier this year because of declining revenues, also plans to work closely with other Northern Ontario post-secondary institutions to help streamline course offerings.

Rather than have six colleges offer a program and not come close to filling the classroom, it might make more sense to take advantage of distance learning opportunities and have the course offered physically at just one.

Nearly 1,300 students are already studying through Confederation’s virtual college, including 360 who are from outside the region.
There are also 560 students in regional locations.

Madder acknowledged they’ll have to do more to attract the international crowd. The student village, two on-campus residences currently under construction, is a good start, providing housing for dozens of students.

Reaching out to a broader spectrum of potential students will play a key role in that success. About 30 per cent of all international students at Confederation College are from India.

“We want to diversify that,” Madder said.

The school is also reaching out to at-risk high-school students through its school college work initiative.

And they’re working hard to encourage more Aboriginal learners to choose Confederation for their post-secondary studies. The school experienced a 6.3 per cent growth in the number of Aboriginal learners in 2014, compared to 2013.