Neil Fassina is 100 per cent committed to making sure Okanagan College's Salmon Arm campus remains a physical space for face-to-face learning.
The Okanagan College president shared this commitment following a presentation to city council at its Aug. 25 meeting.
"Consider that on record," said Fassina. "I鈥檓 also committed to making sure we meet the needs of our learners throughout the region whether they live urban, rural or remote."
This second commitment had to do with the college's efforts to reach and support learners who, for whatever reason, are unable to attend their local campus. Bot commitments were in response to a question by Coun. Sylvia Lindgren regarding public concerns the Salmon Arm campus would transition entirely to online learning.
"That could lead to closing the campus here and I think that would be a huge mistake, both economically and socially for our student population and for our businesses here in town," said Lindgren.
Fassina noted this is a conversation that's been occurring in the community for several years now, and called it an "an incorrect assumption around what is happening." What is happening, he said, involves a "yes/and conversation."
"We are 100 per cent committed to our face-to-face learning environment," said Fassina. "As we speak, I am literally putting in $100 million worth of face-to-face capital within this valley. That is not a strategic move that is taken by an institution that does not have a commitment to a face-to-face learning environment."
In addition to face-to face learning, Fassina said the college wants to be able to "meet learners where they are," and that can be done through a digital presence.
"It becomes a 'yes/and opportunity', and we can actually grow our鈥� student population鈥�," said Fassina.
Lindgren also Fassina about reductions in staffing and programming, which he confirmed has occurred as a result of the federal government's move to reduce the number of international students coming into Canada to what it called a "sustainable level."
"We have seen a decrease in a number of sections in different programs, and that is throughout the valley," said Fassina, adding how in some cases programs have switched to a hybrid model, "and that is our efforts to make sure that a student can engage in that education from within their community without us simply abandoning that educational opportunity."
During his presentation, Fassina said while there's been an uptick in enrolment domestically, Okanagan College is anticipating a reduction of 700 international students in the coming school year, with enrolment dropping from 1,800 to 1,100. This will primarily affect the 琉璃神社 campus "because that鈥檚 where the primary concentration of our international students were."
The reduction of international students also upset Okanagan College's vision for the Salmon Arm campus' newly opened student housing facility. Fassina said the college had been planning for a "larger cohort of international students being able to utilize that student housing environment."
However, continued Fassina, the college is also looking at opportunities to provide short-term housing for organizations like Interior Health, while also using the space for trades students who only need housing for six to 12 weeks.
In 2024, Fassina said Okanagan College around 2,500 people either learning directly at the Salmon Arm campus or in programming offered by the campus.
Asked what council could do to support the college in its upcoming meetings with government officials at the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities conventions, Fassina asked the message be shared that colleges,while misperceived as being secondary to universities, are the "economic engine" of the region.
"Related to that, it鈥檚 also recognizing that we live in a resource constrained environment at both the federal and the provincial level," said Fassina. "There is great difficulty trying to acquire new monies as it relates to programming that our region needs."
As an example of needed programming, Fassina said Okanagan College is striving to ramp up offerings for "allied health," not nurses or doctors but "everything else."
"We stand ready to be able to launch multiple new programs, whether they be in lab technologies, x-ray technologies, imaging, all of those things that all or our community centres need," said Fassina. "We just don鈥檛 have the resources in our own shop right now to be able to launch those."
