THUNDER BAY — Confederation College has suspended new admissions to some programs while it continues to work on a strategy for dealing with the federal government's international student cap.
As a direct result of that cap, intake was stopped for six programs for the current winter term, including five programs in the School of Aviation, Engineering Technology & Trades, and one offered by the School of Business, Hospitality & Media Arts.
New admissions are also paused for the spring/summer term in four programs provided by the School of Business, Hospitality & Media Arts, and one program in the School of Aviation, Engineering Technology & Trades.
Studies for people already in these programs will continue as usual.
The federal cap has caused enrollment to drop at post-secondary institutions across the country, including by nearly 40 per cent in first-year enrollment by foreign students at Confederation last fall.
The college believes the drop next fall could be significantly bigger.
As of January, it had 1,382 international students enrolled, 429 fewer than in January of last year.
Only 75 of the international students currently taking courses at the college are new. The rest are individuals who have returned to complete their studies.
In response to an inquiry from Newswatch, the college said this week it has made no decisions yet on the ultimate status of existing programs, and is evaluating options for both short-term and long-term strategies.
"Suspended intakes refer to a temporary halt in admissions for a specific term or cohort, typically based on enrollment trends, with the program expected to resume in the future. This is a common practice that occurs every semester," the college explained in a statement. "On the other hand, cancelled programs are permanently or indefinitely discontinued, with no future intakes planned. At this time...we have not announced any permanent program suspensions."
Michelle Salo, president of Confederation College, said the college's priority is to maintain the breadth of its programming while minimizing the impact on its workforce.
"We are committed to providing high-quality education and supporting our community through a thoughtful and strategic approach," she said. "As part of this process, we continue to engage in discussions with our faculty and support staff unions, and are reviewing potential steps with our Board of Governors. Updates will be provided a decisions are made and plans are finalized."
A spokesperson for the college faculty said although discussions are taking place, they have concerns about job security.
"In terms of our ability to actually develop strategies to increase employment stability, that is not happening," said Rebecca Ward, president of OPSEU local 732.
"We still don't know what programs they plan to suspend, and if we don't know what programs they plan to suspend, we can't proactively plan around individual faculty employment stability."
Ward said "We know program cuts are coming, and we want to prepare our members. We want to put them in the best position to remain employed...and we don't know of any other cost-saving measures that are being put in place at Confederation either, which is also concerning to us. Administrative bloat is an issue across the system, and it's an issue at Confederation College. If they need to save, how are they going to save beyond just cutting faculty positions?"
A spokesperson for the college said administration is also proceeding cautiously with any capital projects, and will only move forward with those that result in significant cost savings or revenue generation.
Multiple colleges across the province have already taken significant measures to deal with the decrease in international student enrollment, including staff cuts of up to 20 per cent.
One school has put 49 programs on hold.
At Lakehead University the number of international students who enrolled at either the Thunder Bay or Orillia campus last fall fell by by 11 per cent because of the federal government's policy change.
A spokesperson said Lakehead faces "a challenging situation"even though it is less reliant on international tuition revenue than some other institutions.
About 20 per cent of its total student population is comprised of international students.
To date, no programming or staffing cuts have been made at the university due to the international student cap, but the spokesperson said the situation is being monitored carefully.
