Centennial College to merge 2 campuses due to funding cuts, international student cap

Muriel Draaisma · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 05, 2025 7:28 PM EST | Last Updated: March 6

Toronto's Centennial College says it plans to merge 2 of its 5 campuses owed to "stagnant authorities backing and a diminution successful planetary pupil enrolments induced by national argumentation changes."

In a connection connected Wednesday, Centennial College president Craig Stephenson said the assemblage volition relocate each programs from its Story Arts Centre successful East York to its Progress field successful Scarborough by the summertime of 2026.

The assemblage has not yet made a determination astir the gathering that contains the Story Arts Centre, helium said.

"The determination is portion of a broad strategy to unafraid the semipermanent sustainability of our world programs and guarantee the vitality of field life," Stephenson said.

The "relocation" means students, module and unit volition determination arsenic well. The Story Arts Centre is location to immoderate of the college's schoolhouse of communications, media, arts and plan programs.

The assemblage says it volition guarantee students, module and unit astatine the centre have the resources and enactment to negociate the determination with small disruption.

"This decision, portion profoundly upsetting and unsettling, is simply a captious measurement if we are to safeguard Centennial's semipermanent sustainability."

The announcement comes much than a period aft the assemblage said it is suspending 49 programs arsenic it deals with the fallout of the national government's headdress connected planetary survey permits. The 49 programs correspond a astir 28 per cent simplification from its erstwhile offering of 177 programs.

In the statement, Stephenson said the program to determination the programs and students is successful its aboriginal stages and the schoolhouse volition make a elaborate modulation plan.

"We profoundly admit the value of the Story Arts Centre and its ties to the community. After analyzing a scope of factors with cautious evaluation, this determination has been approached with large attraction and respect for the heavy connections that our students, faculty, alumni, and the broader originative assemblage each person to this campus," helium said.

Classrooms, labs not being good utilized, president says

In a missive to unit obtained by CBC Toronto, Stephenson said the determination was made by the enforcement squad and the committee of governors and relocation is astir "strategic consolidation of space."

Stephenson said factors that influenced the determination see the "low utilization" of classrooms and labs, with lone 40 per cent of the disposable abstraction astatine Story Arts Centre presently successful progressive use. That percent is expected to driblet adjacent further erstwhile the assemblage begins to suspend programs.

The assemblage expects enrolment to driblet 43 per cent wide and 53 per cent astatine the Story Arts Centre this twelvemonth compared to 2022 to 2023, Stephenson said.

"Consolidation of staffing and students volition not lone guarantee a higher level of vigor and vitality, but exposure Story Arts students to a greater scope of services and engagement opportunities," helium said successful the letter. 

Stephenson said helium understands the determination volition person an affectional impact.

"For many, the Story Arts Centre represents overmuch much than conscionable walls and classrooms; it's been a location for creativity, a spot of passion, and a awesome of accidental for generations of students, module and alumni. Its power connected the arts assemblage — some present successful Toronto and beyond — is undeniable," helium said.

Last September, the national authorities announced it would slash the fig of planetary pupil visas it issues by different 10 per cent. The caller people for 2025 and 2026 volition beryllium 437,000 permits. In 2024, the people was 485,000 permits.

Deciding however to divide the allocation of permits among post-secondary institutions is up to the provincial government, which announced past March that colleges would look the biggest driblet successful their planetary pupil numbers. 

Advocacy radical acrophobic astir fiscal sustainability

Maureen Adamson, CEO of Colleges Ontario, said successful an email connected Wednesday that the advocacy enactment is profoundly acrophobic astir the "financial sustainability" of colleges successful Ontario.

"There is presently nary extremity successful show for much hard decisions similar the 1 that Centennial College was forced to marque contiguous owed to national caps and chronic underfunding. College grads are the backbone of our system and we request them present much than ever to support Ontario," Adamson said.

Bianca Giacoboni, property caput for Nolan Quinn, Ontario's Mnister of Colleges and Universities, said the state has invested heavy in colleges to stabilize them.

"Our postsecondary sector, including Centennial College, is going done a rebalancing close present and immoderate hard decisions are being made by our institutions to guarantee their longevity," Giacoboni said. 

"We person been and volition proceed to enactment with the assemblage to guarantee that they're capable to support providing Ontario students with the acquisition and skills they request for good-paying, in-demand jobs and careers."