Canadore College plans for future amid COVID-19
May 11, 2020 | Cindy Males, Public Relations and Communications Specialist
For Immediate Release
May 11, 2020
(NORTH BAY) - As the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic persists, Canadore College continues to plan for the future. Canadore administrators held a virtual meeting with college employees this morning to update everyone on the pandemic situation.
“We have been forced to change rapidly,” said Canadore President George Burton. “We all hope the new normal is more a resumption of what we’re used to, which is on-campus activity. Since day one, our priority has been the safety of our students and employees, and the stability of our workforce for as long as possible.”
“We came into this global challenge as a college in relatively good shape which is going to help us,” said Shawn Chorney, Vice-President of Enrolment Management, Indigenous and Student Services. “Our returning student number is solid. It didn’t fall off. Students didn’t put their hands up and say: I’m out. So, we have a returning student cohort, so far, that is onpar with what we expected in our enrolment.”
Plans are being finalized for the 900 students who must return to school to complete the practical component of their programs. The College will bring those individuals back on campus as soon as it is safely possible. The first-year domestic student intake for Spring 2020 has been deferred for North Bay campuses and cancelled all together for international students. However, international spring intake at Canadore’s Toronto partner, Stanford International College of Business and Technology, is now underway.
“Our confirmations coming into the Fall domestically are up, for most programs,” said Chorney. “There are certain specific sectors, like aviation, that are tracking down right now. They are highly linked to the health of the industry. And, the aviation sector was growing coming into it but is often a focus of airline struggles and so on. Although that is only a sliver and a component part of that one sector as an example, it does impact consumer confidence, student confidence in coming to study. “
However, Canadore continues to proceed with caution as it looks to resume full operations for the Fall 2020 semester in September until actual enrolment numbers are known.
“We have slowed or suspended our infrastructure spending for the upcoming year,” said Burton. “We have approved funding for infrastructure to accommodate the delivery of programs in the Fall.”
Burton said Canadore received funding during the early days of the pandemic to help offset immediate costs and is grateful for ongoing government support as the College moves to the new normal.
Canadore would also like to thank its students, employees and stakeholders for steps they’ve already taken to flatten the COVID-19 curve as well as their ongoing assistance in moving towards a new normal
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Canadore College trains people through applied learning, leadership and innovation. It provides access to over 80 full-time quality programs and has outstanding faculty and provides success services to students from nearly 400 Canadian communities and 15 international countries. The College and its students add nearly $244 million to Nipissing Parry Sound Service Area economy. Approximately 1,000 students graduate from Canadore each year, and they join 46,000 alumni working across the globe. Canadore receives less than 50 per cent of its traditional funding from the provincial Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and relies on its own innovation and entrepreneurial endeavors and generous donors for the balance.
For more information please contact Cindy Males at 705-475-2538 or at Cindy.Males@canadorecollege.ca