Layoffs and program cuts coming to Fanshawe College in spring, president says

Fanshawe College will announce this spring which programs it will cut and how many people will lose their jobs, the school's head said during a town hall meeting with staff Wednesday morning. 

Fanshawe is staring down 30 per cent fewer students than it had at its peak two years ago, college president Peter Devlin said. That includes 64 per cent fewer international students — a major source or revenue — by 2026/2027. 

"There will be an impact on students, our employees, and the community," Devlin said. 

A formal hiring freeze went into effect Monday and an early retirement program will be revealed next month, he added. More cuts to programs and staff will be announced after a provincially funded consultant is done a review of where the college can save money, he added. 

"We will have fewer programs and a right-sized workforce. We will have a deficit position while we reshape Fanshawe over time," Devlin said. 

• Fanshawe College president tells staff to expect layoffs as program reviews continue

Devlin made pointed remarks about the chronic underfunding of the province's colleges, calling on staff to vote in Thursday's election. 

"We are funded at 44 per cent of the national average. The lowest funding in the country happens here in Ontario, the most prosperous province," he said. "For a student, we get $6,891. The average in Canada is $15,615. There's an election. Vote. Please vote." 

Province must step up, union agrees

Platforms of the main parties don't come close to closing the funding gap, Devlin said. That note was echoed by Mark Feltham, the president of OPSEU Local 11, which represents faculty at Fanshawe College. 

"Tuition has been capped, forcing colleges into a highly vulnerable reliance on unregulated international student tuition fees," Feltham said in a statement. 

"Union members are understandably apprehensive. Precarious workers have been made even more precarious in this landscape, and even full-time workers, with their greater protections, are worried by talk of layoffs and program suspensions."

Unable to raise domestic tuition to pay for increasing revenues because of a freeze announced in 2019, the province's college's have increasingly relied on international students, who in some cases pay double what Canadian students pay, to fund everything from buildings to professors.

That cash-flow came to a halt when the federal government severely capped how many international students are allowed into the country, massively curtailing that revenue. Fanshawe has already limited intake to 66 programs because of the cap, Devlin said. 

The school has campuses in London, Simcoe, St. Thomas and Woodstock.

Consultants StrategyCorp Inc. are being paid by the province to look at where cuts can be made. It's looking at which programs have high demand, retention, labour market need and how much they bring in. The school is also reviewing off-campus spaces it leases to look for cost-savings. 

A campus in south London near White Oaks Mall has 90 per cent international students and maybe impacted, Devlin said. A lease in Oxbury Mall won't be renewed, he added.