Confederation College (File Photo)

Confederation College has announced that it is suspending 11 programs.

The decision was approved by its Board of Governors on Wednesday.

A review of enrollment trends, financial performance, and labour market data led to the decision.

Affected programs include:

School of Business, Hospitality and Media Arts:

• Business – Human Resource
• Business Administration – Human Resources
• Culinary Management
• Human Resource Management
• International Business Management

School of Engineering Technology, Trades and Aviation:

• Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering Technician
• Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering Technology
• Electronics Engineering Technician
• Instrumentation Engineering Technician – Process Automation

School of Health, Negahneewin and Community Service:

• Dental Assisting – Levels I and II
• Educational Support

Currently enrolled students will be able to complete their studies.

The suspensions is impacting four per cent of projected incoming domestic students starting in September.

The college’s admissions and recruitment teams are working with applicants to try and find alternative program options.

“These decisions are never taken lightly. While we must ensure our long-term sustainability, our focus remains on supporting our students and employees throughout this transition,” said President Michelle Salo. “As the education and employment landscape evolves, Confederation College remains committed to delivering high-quality, career-focused programs that equip students with the skills they need to succeed.”

Any student impacted by the suspensions has been notified.

“We’ve also been working, and we’ll continue to work closely with our faculty and support staff unions to mitigate the impact of these program suspensions on faculty and support staff,” said the Vice President of Academics, Aaron Skillen. “We have not announced any layoffs related to these program suspensions. Our focus remains on providing quality education to every student while balancing the long term sustainability here at Confederation College.”

The college has seen a decline in domestic enrollment in recent years and they were filling the empty seats with international students.

A new cap on incoming non-Canadian students was implemented by the federal government limiting the college’s ability to do so.

“The caps here at Confederation College for the 2025 calendar year, we have 1544, an allocation of provincial attestation letters. Those are letters that must accompany a students application to the IRCC for a study permit to study with us here at Confederation College,” added Skillen. “The previous year here at Confederation College, our initial allocation in the 2024 calendar year was 1929, so we did take a decline.”

Moving forward, the college wouldn’t confirm that the courses are gone for good.

“Yeah, at this time, we don’t plan any future intakes of students in those eleven programs,” said Skillen. “A cancellation would be, you know, no intention to have that program ever again. A suspension allows you the possibility, if you will, of revisiting that program at a future date.”

“At this point in time, we have a set of circumstances here at Confederation College and certainly in the provincial and federal contexts there that have contributed to these difficult decisions that we’ve had to make. If those circumstances change and change in a favorable manner, that allows us to be more optimistic on a higher enrollment or allows us to deliver these programs in a more financially sustainable way. Then we’ll certainly be open to revisiting thoughts in that space or other new program developing in that space as well.”