Loyalist College suspends 24 programs, cuts faculty by 20%

Just as Algonquin College has voted to cancel 41 programs and close its Perth campus, another rural college in Ontario has approved the suspension of two dozen of its programs. 

Loyalist College, based in Belleville, Ont., confirmed last week it's suspending 24 programs in the arts, sciences, culinary and carpentry fields. Current students can still graduate, but the programs will not admit new students. Some of the programs will end in April 2025, while others will end in April 2027. 

The college also announced a 20 per cent cut to its faculty. 

Mark Kirkpatrick, president and chief executive officer of the college, said the cuts are due to a lack of provincial funding and a change in federal policy regarding international student enrolment. 

"The financial situation that we're facing is no different than the other post-secondary institutions across the province," he said. "We just don't have the income anymore to sustain the number of programs that we historically did."

Kirkpatrick said choosing which programs to cut was based on key factors including enrolment trends, how they aligned with federal and provincial priorities, eligibility for postgraduate work permits and the overall cost of running them.

He said trade programs like carpentry are costly because of all the equipment needed.  

"I think we go back to the point that we didn't have a choice, but we had to suspend some programs to get our cost-cutting measures down," he said.    

Faculty not consulted 

Tracy Mackenzie, faculty union president and a professor at Loyalist, said neither faculty nor the program advisory committee were consulted about the cuts. 

"Nobody was given an opportunity to discuss how these programs could be adjusted or made to be more financially viable," she said. "There were no discussions whatsoever and faculty found out about it after the decision had already been made." 

Mackenzie said faculty had many ideas about ways to adjust programs to avoid cuts, but weren't given the opportunity to present them until it was too late.

"Instead of two-year diplomas, we could be looking at one-year certificates to still offer the program in some format," she said. "There's ideas of offering flexible hours and learning opportunities for students to increase the demand of our local domestic students through evening or weekend courses."

Impact on the community

Mackenzie said she worries for colleagues who face potential job loss, and what the program suspensions mean for the surrounding community. 

With post-secondary institutes in Ontario cutting so many similar programs, Mackenzie said she worries young people will have to travel to Toronto or Ottawa for their education, and may never return to the Belleville area.

"We only have one post-secondary option in the area and we have a lot of employers that absolutely need our graduates to fill the demand of the workforce," she said. "These cuts are going to have a significant impact not only on Loyalist College, but on the Belleville community as well."

Mustafa Alali, president of student government at Loyalist College and a third-year nursing student, said he understands that suspending these programs is part of Loyalist's plan to address the financial pressures caused by the new regulations on international students. 

"We understand these tough decisions are made with the college's long-term stability in mind," Alali wrote over email.