English Language Centre cut at Lethbridge Polytechnic
By Lethbridge Herald on January 24, 2025.
The doors of the English Language Centre will be shuttered as of June 30 due to a reduction in program grant funding.
Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-GuzmanAlejandra Pulido-Guzman – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – apulido@lethbridgeherald.com
Lethbridge Polytechnic’s English Language Centre will be closing at the end of June after grant funding was cut for the federal Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program.
President and CEO Brad Donaldson told reporters Friday that because the federal government, through the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has made some significant changes over the past year regarding international students and supports for newcomers, these changes are affecting post-secondary institutions and communities across the country.
“With that in mind, I am saddened to announce our English Language Centre will close effective June 30. The centre has provided English language training on our campus for more than 50 years,” said Donaldson.
He said that beyond language instruction, the centre has provided a sense of community and belonging to more than 100 students currently and legions more over the decades.
“This decision will affect about 20 employees in the English language centre over the next few months. And I want to thank them for their commitment, engagement and caring in the important work that they do,” said Donaldson.
He said the centre’s closure is a result of significant cut to the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
“We had sought renewal of a five-year grant that supported us teaching up to level 8 language skills. We were offered a one-year contract that only supported instruction to level 4,” said Donaldson.
He explained that the levels are from the Canadian Languages benchmarks and the difference between the language proficiency that was supported and what is now being funded in Canada is significant.
“We are concerned this change will undermine the ability of newcomers to thrive in Canada and to fully participate in their communities. The changes to the LINC rank is just one of the series of changes IRCC has made over the last year that will have a detrimental effect on postsecondary institutions and communities across Canada,” said Donaldson.
He added that a cap on international students and rules about which programs will be eligible for postgraduate work permits have damaged Canada’s reputation as a destination of choice for international students.
“According to Colleges and Institutes Canada, international student cap has led to a 54 per cent drop in enrolment across Canada. Only 60 per cent of Lethbridge Polytechnics programs are considered eligible for post graduate work permits, even though graduates of these programs are highly sought by sectors experiencing labour shortages,” said Donaldson.
He said they are anticipating to lose a few hundred international students as a result and one of the programs that is affected by the change in post-graduate work permit is the Civil Engineering technology program,
“Our graduates are in demand, but this program is not eligible for the post-graduate work permits and will no longer be of interest to international students,” said Donaldson.
At the moment 19 out of 67 students in the Civil Engineering Technology program are international students.
“Throughout Canada, we see colleges and polytechnics hit especially hard by the policy changes, despite their focus on career outcomes. At Lethbridge Polytechnic, we project a significant drop in international student tuition and fees and challenges with inflationary expenses for the 25/26 year,” said Donaldson.
He said across Canada, nearly $2 billion in tuition revenue is at risk with the loss of international students, and this doesn’t include the economic benefits they bring as consumers and employees in our communities.
“We acknowledge that the federal government had to make a change to address the few institutions in other province that ill-used international student tuition,” said Donaldson. “However, the blanket application of these changes is doing lasting harm to Canada’s reputation, the results of which will be felt not only by post-secondary institutions but by many other sectors, including tourism and service industries.”
He added that the loss of English language training is especially painful as language proficiency is key to success in Canada. It affects the ability to integrate, build a sense of community and successfully find a job.
“As we move forward, we are reviewing all of our programs and services to ensure we can continue to provide students relevant programs that prepare them for careers that meet the needs of our economy and society,” said Donaldson. “We are not taking these decisions lightly, and we will take the time we need to ensure we make the right decisions for our future, our community, and our students most of all.”
Donaldson said he is confident they will emerge from this situation as a stronger organization that will continue to serve students and the community.
“With the reduction of the number of students and their corresponding tuition, we have to look at everything that we do, what programs we offer, what services we offer and making sure that we are in a position to be able to support students with the programs that are needed and the services they need,” said Donaldson.
He said they are analyzing the situation right now to understand how they may need to reshape the organization to deal with this change.
“It is possible some programs will see either elimination or reduction in size. We have to be very careful about looking at the number of students that are looking for the programs that we offer and looking at opportunities internally to perhaps integrate programs where there is overlapped to reduce redundancy,” said Donaldson.
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Rather than grounded in sound reasoning, might one conclude that these changes in funding are the result of a deep seated xenophobia?