Enrolment growth means renovation plans at Algoma University

“We’ve had a great year.”

That from Asima Vezina, Algoma University president and vice chancellor, speaking of a major increase in enrolment at Algoma for the 2018-2019 academic year, while also looking forward to a big jump in applications for the year ahead, while addressing the university’s board of directors at their regular meeting Thursday.

Final enrolment numbers for 2018-2019 are 1,190 full time equivalent (FTE) students, an increase of 10 per cent over April 2018 projections.

Going forward, Algoma is projecting 20 per cent growth, or approximately 250 FTE students for 2019-2020, consisting of international students, domestic high school graduates and college transfer students.

International student applications are coming primarily from India, China, western African countries and Vietnam.

As of March 7, Algoma’s high school grad applications were 33.5 per cent higher than the previous year, the highest percentage increase in that category of students for the second year in a row in Ontario, those students expressing interest in the university’s computer science, law and justice, psychology, business and biology programs.

“That is huge,” Vezina told the board, re-emphasizing the institution’s appreciation for city council’s approval, at its March 18 meeting, to provide $400,000 from the city’s Economic Development Fund to support the $5 million expansion of Algoma's School of Business and Economics.

Continuing on the theme of projected enrolment growth, Vezina said “we are committed to 3,000 students by 2023-2024.”

As the student population at Algoma is anticipated to grow, Vezina informed the board of plans for major renovations of existing university property.

The university will be asking for requests for proposals (RFPs) from qualified architectural and engineering firms for the renovations.

“It really is a visioning exercise of where we want to go over the next 10 years, and what we need to be thinking about on our campuses (Sault Ste. Marie, Brampton and Timmins) as we prepare for 3,000 students,” Vezina said.

“We see it as a seven to 10-year plan...everyone in the internal (university) community, and some external community members as well, will have some input as to the design of the campus master plan.”

The renovations will include:

• a National Training Centre (provisional title), to better house Shingwauk Indian Residential School archival material
• a facelift for the Doc Brown Lounge and surrounding classrooms and offices
• locating the School of Business and Economics on the bottom section of the university’s library
• relocation of the school’s computer labs and bookstore

“We want to have the shovel in the ground by next summer. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get the detailed design work done,” Vezina said.

Rob Battisti, Algoma’s finance and operations vice president, told SooToday the preliminary cost estimate for the renovations is about $5.2 million for the School of Business, another $1 million for other renovations.

Funding for the renos will be sought from the province’s NOHFC and the federal government, with other funding coming from the Algoma University Students Association (AUSA), Vezina said.