THUNDER BAY – For years the region’s colleges have been in competition to attract students.
But now, with rising costs and slowing enrollment, they’re realizing they need to work together to serve Northern Ontario.
The province is contributing $3.6 million over three years to the six colleges to enhance collaborative partnerships and improve access to education opportunities across the region,
The six schools, which are Confederation College, College Boreal, Cambrian College, Canadore College, Northern College and Sault College, are also investing a total of $1.2 million over the three years into the partnership.
Confederation College president Jim Madder said the collaboration allows each of the six schools to ensure the sustainability of some of their course offerings.
“We have some third-year programs we don’t have a huge number of students in that we don’t want to lose,” Madder said following the funding announcement, which was held on Friday at Confederation College.
“By actually gathering together a larger class essentially at different locations across the north you can increase the number of students you’re delivering to and sustain that program.”
The funding announcement specifically highlights eight programs – business, hospitality, media arts, health, community services, technology, trades and aviation – that will have improved and expanded availability.
The partnerships will function in a way similar to the way Confederation College has managed a number of regional and satellite campuses, using distance education to pool students together while cutting costs.
It also offers the potential for future growth.
“You can take that further and do more niche programming and take specialized programs that each of us have and none of us could afford to do as individuals but one could do across the north,” Madder said.
The schools are realizing they need to do more to provide attainable opportunities for students to access postsecondary education, as well as keeping students in Northern Ontario.
Sault College president Ron Common said student outmigration is a concern not only in Sault Ste. Marie but across the region.
Students aren’t likely to relocate to another Northern Ontario community if their home school doesn’t have the program, which could take them right out of the region.
“We know if the students leave to get their education life goes on. They might fall in love, they may never come back to our area and that’s not something we want,” Common said.
MPP Bill Mauro (Thunder Bay-Atikokan) said the process to put together funding has been ongoing for the past number of months.
He described the relationships as a “benchmark” in the northern colleges working together.
“It’s significant, because you can imagine being someone who lives 500 to 800 kilometres away from where the program they’re interested in taking is being offered. Without this collaboration it’s possible that college might not have been able to provide that programming,” Mauro said.
“This collaboration may allow you to access that program you’re interested in within your host community.”
Changes made as a result of the partnership are expected to begin as early as September.
