Mark Kirkpatrick, president of Belleville, Ontario, based at the Lealist University, says he has seen better times, since budget limitations have forced his school to reduce 24 programs, or 30 percent of all the programs offered.
“We have had to make some extremely difficult decisions here at the university,” he said.
Loyalist, like many universities in the province, had trusted the enrollment of international students to subsidize much of the national delivery of their programs. But the changes in federal policy that the limited international enrollment of students has impacted the financing of the postsecundaria school and has led to the main programs of programs in schools throughout the country, particularly those in Ontario.
However, some observers question whether this problem has received the attention it deserves during this Ontario electoral campaign, and ask if the party leaders offer viable solutions to stop the loss of these programs.
‘I’m not sure that message has happened’
Kirkpatrick says that the local party candidates realize the importance of the problem, but in terms of party leaders: “Provincially, I do not listen to much discussion about it,” he said.
“I am not sure that this message has passed from a provincial perspective.”
Alex Usher, president of Strategy Higher Education, a group of consultants focused on postsecundaria education, said that during this campaign, he was surprised that university closures have not generated as much controversy as he would have expected.
“I think we will end with more than 1,000 programs closures at the university level in this province,” he told CBC’s Metro Tomorrow Earlier this week. “There will be much less options for Ontario students in the future.”
Universities workers celebrate demonstrations in Ontario, asking for more provincial financing for what they say is a crisis. Universities are cutting courses to save money and universities are also dealing with the same problems. Those affected want to see that it is a more prominent electoral problem. CBC reporter Queen’s Park, Lorenda Reddekopp, has more.
Ontario provides the lowest level of student financing in Canada, according to a 2021 general auditor report. To compensate for that deficit, schools and universities have increased their consumption of international students Because they pay a higher registration rate. In 24 public universities, 68 percent of all revenues from registration rates come from international students, according to that report.
But last September, citing the concerns that population growth was pressing the rental market, the federal government announced that it would reduce the number of visas of international students of IT by 10 percent. By 2025, Ontario registered a 23 percent drop in postsecundarias international applications, the government announced last month.
York University suspends programs
With fewer international students, some schools have announced the suspension of dozens of programs. Ontario universities, including St. Lawrence College In Kingston, Algonquin College in Ottawa, and Centennial University and Seneca University In Toronto, everyone has announced cuts.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, the University of York became the first university to announce programs suspensions. Manifestations were also held in universities throughout the province this week to protest against classes and programs.
Louis Volante, professor of educational studies at the University of Brock at St. Catharines, said that the Financing per Student of Ontario, with limits of international students and the “Corridor Financing” model, which limits the number of national students, has created the perfect tsunami. “
But he says that the response to these issues of Ontario’s political parties has been somewhat predictable: “quite and dark species of political positions“
In addition, he pointed out that none of the parties has launched a totally expensive platform to finance postsecundaria education.
Postsecundarias institutions say that it is projected that they lose hundreds of millions of dollars with new international limits of students, they warn of student jobs and programs may be at risk if governments do not drive the funds.
The issue briefly arose in the debate of the leaders of the party in Toronto. The progressive conservative leader Doug Ford reiterated that his government has increased financing by $ 1.3 billion for three years in response to federal government cuts to international student visas.
But the leader of the Green Party, Mike Schreiner, replied that this increase would not even be enough to compensate for the losses of international students.
On Friday, the liberals, the NDP and the Green party published their policy platforms, which included some general promises for post -secondary institutions.
The liberal platform requested an international registration limit for 10 percent students for each University of Ontario, but a promise to “finance colleges and universities fairly to help them avoid depending largely on the international registration of students.”
Both the NDP and the Green Party said they would increase due to students financing by 20 percent and link future increases with inflation.
The new federal limits on the inscriptions of international students are causing deep cuts in postsecundarias hungry cash, with some community universities of Ontario required to discard dozens of programs.
Ontario inhabitants must be invested in a financing problem, says the professor
While voters can focus on the threat of tariffs and problems such as medical care and affordable housing, a steering wheel said the inhabitants of Ontario should be completely invested in what is happening at the post -secundary level.
He said that research shows that the educational systems that are strong also lead to a strong economy and that the province has the responsibility of developing the knowledge economy,
“And the only way that could do that, the only way in which innovation can see in this province is through our post -secundary system, both university and university,” he said.
Kirkpatrick says that loyalist is helping to develop the qualified workforce, which makes it attractive to the industry to build in the area.
“We are the engine that drives the qualified workforce. We are the engine that actually improves skilled workforce,” he said, and pointed out that loyalist is located in a rural area of the province without other post -secondary institutions.
He says that the cuts to post -secondary programs mean that “it is not only the university that will feel the impact, it is all this region that will feel the impact.”
