Fanshawe College 'committed' to downtown presence despite expected enrolment drop

Fanshawe College's downtown campus will be significantly less busy come September, but the college is committed to its presence in the core, according to the official who oversees the two buildings that house programs ranging from hospitality to digital media.

Fanshawe is expecting enrolment for programs that run downtown to drop from about 1,580 students last academic year to about 1,050, according to Silvana Macdonald, the dean of the Faculty of Business and Hospitality.

"All of the programs that are currently here will continue to be here in the fall and beyond. Fanshawe College made a commitment to our downtown community, and we are not going anywhere," Macdonald said.

"We are a part of downtown. We love being downtown, and the wonderful thing about these programs being downtown is that they're super connected to all the other businesses and industries that are already here."

Fanshawe's $66 million project to grow its downtown presence was completed in 2018 was made possible with the help of funding from private donors and the City of London. The buildings at 130 and 137 Dundas St. were home to 19 programs in total last year.

Fanshawe is currently in the throes of a dramatic reshaping marked by a drop in international student enrolment because of student permit caps by the federal government, leading to layoffs, program cancellations and other difficult financial decisions.

On top of the cap on international admissions, Fanshawe's president, Peter Devlin, alongside officials with the union that represents many of its employees, say the province has chronically underfunded post-secondary institutions. Fanshawe is in the process of cutting its workforce by about 35 per cent, or roughly 400 positions in total, as it faces a $72-million deficit in the coming two years.

Of the 19 programs that run downtown, 14 are part of its school of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts, and five are part of its school of Media and Digital Arts.

Amid the financial strife, not all of those programs will be returning in September.

"We unfortunately have three programs that have been permanently suspended. We have our food and beverage management program, hotel and resort management program, as well as our tourism and hospitality management program, all being permanently suspended," Macdonald said.

Students already enrolled in those programs will still be able to complete them, she said, and a new program for students looking to enter the music industry will also be coming to the downtown campus in September.

Despite cutting two of its 19 programs, the number of students enrolled in the downtown programs is set to drop by roughly 500 disproportionately.

It's a notable decrease overall, but one that Macdonald said is partially borne of regular fluctuations in enrolment, on top of the apparent impact of program suspensions and fewer international admissions.

"We are going to feel and know that we have fewer students, but it's still a good, healthy number of students," she said. The drop in students doesn't just affect Fanshawe's bottom line. Business owners nearby told CBC News they expect lower enrolment downtown would affect them, too.

Omar El-Cheikh and his mother run a dessert business next door to Fanshawe's downtown campus. He estimated that on any given weekday, as much as 25 per cent of his business might come from students.

"Any loss of clientele is a hit. As any business owner can attest, any loss of people is a loss, no matter who they are. It's too bad," he said.

The building at 130 Dundas also houses a restaurant and a cafe, both of which are run by students and open to the public.

Macdonald said those establishments, which have become popular and are increasingly visited by people who live and work downtown, aren't going anywhere. She also said the college is looking for opportunities to bring programs that would benefit from being downtown into the core.

When asked on Wednesday about Fanshawe's future as a whole, including for more information on the status and progress of the ongoing layoffs, Devlin said Fanshawe will doubtlessly be changed by the end of the process.

"You will see a transformed Fanshawe College that delivers programs with incredibly knowledgeable, professional faculty and staff, focused on meeting labour market needs," Devlin said. "We'll be a little bit smaller, but we will be equally committed to our community and to the students that we serve."