Conestoga College

[nms]

John Tibbets found himself in the news last week.

How it started:
The Conestoga Effect 2023 Economic and Social Impact Report released by Larry Smith February 13, 2024, declared that Conestoga College is: “indispensable to the prosperity of the local community by helping both younger and older workers adapt to the changes and challenges of the economic environment.”

How it went:
Conestoga president defend's school's record, calls Soo College president a 'whore' (Feb 14, 2024, GuelphToday.com)

"Like [Sault College President David] Orazietti, why are his goddamn students in Toronto? Why not up there? Talk about a whore, I mean, he's taking a percentage of the profits of an operation," said Tibbits. "I can't stand the guy by the way."

Conestoga College president John Tibbits defends school's intake of international students (Feb 15, 2024, CBC)

"Tibbits acknowledged he used the term ... , but would not talk about it in detail. He said he regretted using the term, but doesn't regret criticizing Sault College."

President of Sault College responds to 'personal attacks' by Conestoga College president (Feb 16, 2024, CBC)

"My comments were related more to the situation at Conestoga. I think it's a shared belief that any college bringing over 30,000 international students in such a short period of time, it would be unreasonable that there be adequate housing and jobs in the community," Orazietti said.

Orazietti said there should be an independent investigation by the Ontario Auditor General into the operations at Conestoga College, but would not say if he would call for the investigation.

He reiterated that it is unacceptable for a public college president to make personal attacks and that the federal government's cap on the number of international students coming into the country were in part to address "circumstances exactly like what is happening at Conestoga."

"It's well known in the sector that Conestoga College is a bad actor," he said.

[tomh009]

Both Sault and Conestoga have issues with their programs (Sault has a Toronto "campus" at TriOS). And neither Orazietti or Tibbits was professional in this spat.

[nms]

Union at Conestoga College call for school's president to 'consider retirement' after controversial comments

[ac3r]

It's insane that he just throw around comments like this and not get immediately fired. If any one of us called just a single colleague a "whore" I don't think we'd have a job by the end of the day. Unfortunately in our society the class that is the powerful, wealthy and influential white boomer demographic has the privilege of having a protective armour that lets them get away with shit that would land anyone else in serious trouble.

I expect nothing to happen. Maaaayyyybbbeeeee he'll have some staffer write up a fake, empty "apology" statement just to try and appear to care and then will put it all behind him.

[ijmorlan]

It's insane that he just throw around comments like this and not get immediately fired. …

I have to admit, I laughed when I saw that it was you that wrote that.

[ac3r]

Lol...difference is, though, that I am careful with my words at the professional level. I'm obviously not going to dox myself and reveal who I am, who I work or have worked for, which buildings and spaces I've created, where I teach, where my writings are published and so on but I have a very extensive career in architecture and art. I'm not reluctant to say bold statements, throw around words or reach for some good memes. dank.lloyd.wright and b0ysfirm come to mind. I'm a millennial and of this generation. No safe spaces allowed.

I certainly wouldn't call any colleagues a whore in the manner this guy did...well, maybe a few of them. But they would understand it's a joke. Tibbit's wasn't joking, he's just an asshole.

[nms]

He's also been president and CEO of the college since 1987. I can't think of any post-secondary institution that has had a president for that long.

On a related note (and I can't find the reference off hand), there is a quirk in how universities and colleges report their finances.  Universities are stand alone institutions with financial books that are separate from the Provincial government books.  Colleges are creatures of the province and their books are directly tied into the Provincial balance sheet.  Put another way, if a college happens to run a surplus, say by importing a lot of international students and charging them the international rate, that surplus directly contributes to any surplus that the Province reports.  I wonder in whose best interest it is to turn a blind eye to increased overseas enrollment?

[ac3r]

You're tellin' me it's all about the money?!? I am shocked!

[panamaniac]

Thousands fewer international students starting this fall.  A hit to DTK?

[tomh009]

Thousands fewer international students starting this fall.  A hit to DTK?

It depends how many thousands. Foreign students are capped at 35% of total incoming enrolment except for specific high-demand fields like STEM and healthcare, for which the limits have not been published. I think Conestoga's biggest hit will be on their international business program--which is downtown--unless they manage to significantly increase the domestic-student enrolment for that program.

[the_conestoga_guy]

Thousands fewer international students starting this fall.  A hit to DTK?

It depends how many thousands. Foreign students are capped at 35% of total incoming enrolment except for specific high-demand fields like STEM and healthcare, for which the limits have not been published. I think Conestoga's biggest hit will be on their international business program--which is downtown--unless they manage to significantly increase the domestic-student enrolment for that program.

My understanding of the DTK campus is that they also offer a lot of the 1-year certificate programs that are popular with international students. I suspect that we'll see many fewer students at this campus.

[prisecaru0]

Thousands fewer international students starting this fall.  A hit to DTK?

It depends how many thousands. Foreign students are capped at 35% of total incoming enrolment except for specific high-demand fields like STEM and healthcare, for which the limits have not been published. I think Conestoga's biggest hit will be on their international business program--which is downtown--unless they manage to significantly increase the domestic-student enrolment for that program.

How many domestic students did Conestoga have in 2023? will this bring the number of international to under 10000?

[tomh009]

It depends how many thousands. Foreign students are capped at 35% of total incoming enrolment except for specific high-demand fields like STEM and healthcare, for which the limits have not been published. I think Conestoga's biggest hit will be on their international business program--which is downtown--unless they manage to significantly increase the domestic-student enrolment for that program.

How many domestic students did Conestoga have in 2023? will this bring the number of international to under 10000?

I don't have that answer ... but Conestoga's 2022-23 annual report shows the number of graduate certificate students as 46% of total (up from 1% in 2017-18); I think this is a pretty good proxy for the number of international post-graduate students. If we assume that, then the worst-case scenario for them would be a reduction of 16.3% of total enrolment (reducing international enrolment by 35.4%). The actual will likely be smaller than that because they do have a pretty substantial number of international students in the priority areas, and those will be reduced less.

Actual number of international students? Assuming a range of between 55% and 70% of domestic students for foreign enrolment (it's probably around 85% now, based on the chart below), I would guess they would end up with 10,000-12,000 foreign students. The restrictions are on incoming students, not total enrolment, though, so the reduction in international students will probably take 2-3 years.

   

[tomh009]

The cut turns out to be a bit more than my projection: over 50% rather than 35%.
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...29ec2.html

“Our allocation was set at less than 50 per cent of our current international enrolment. With this news, we will assess the enrolment and operational impacts and communicate more as details become available,” the college said in a statement.

The school said that despite the cut, it will continue with planned capital investments, including $110 million in Guelph, $70 million in Kitchener and $41 million in Waterloo.

Conestoga led the country in 2023 with more than 30,000 study permit approvals, federal data shows. With a cap set below 50 per cent of its 2023 numbers, it means Conestoga will be limited to fewer than 15,000 new international students in 2024.

[ac3r]

About time.