LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. — Lethbridge Polytechnic announced it will be laying off five per cent of its staff and cutting multiple programs in response to significant policy changes to international student limits imposed by the federal government.
President and CEO Brad Donaldson says the post-secondary institution is facing a budget deficit of $8 million this fiscal year due to the reduction of international student visas being approved.
As a result, 53 permanent positions among all employee groups at the polytechnic have been terminated.
“It’s been a troubling time for the organization; I won’t diminish that in any way shape or form,” said Donaldson.
“I want to offer my sincere thanks to our employees for their perseverance through this tough time. I feel fortunate to be part of this dedicated and caring community.”
The Aquaculture Centre of Excellence will also be closing.
The polytechnic has suspended its commercial greenhouse technician certificate, educational assistant diploma, agriculture science – animal sciences major and health care aid (Government of Alberta) certificate.
In January, the polytechnic announced that its English language centre would be closing as of June 30, with 19 additional employees being laid off.
“On the one hand, I’m really saddened that we have to have people leave the organization,” said Donaldson.
“It’s through no fault of their own; they’ve been placed in a position because of our financial situation where we simply don’t have the funds to sustain those positions. On the other hand, it’s provided a great opportunity for us to take a look at what we need to do to be successful.”
Donaldson says those programs were chosen to be suspended as a result of low enrolment.
“We need to make sure that the programs we offer have two things – one is the student demand – do students want to go into those careers?” explained Donaldson.
“Secondly, from a hiring perspective, are there hiring opportunities in those careers? We’ve seen a shift in student demand and we can’t afford to run very low-filled programs.”
Students currently in those impacted programs will be able to finish their studies and graduate.
Last year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada reduced international student visas by 48,000 to limit the number of students studying in the country.
“We’d love to say that we’re not dependent on international students and we’re moving to that point,” Donaldson said.
“We’ll go through another year of reductions as the international student numbers level out, but it is opening those eyes to what can we get additional revenue from, and part of the strategy is new programs.”
Donaldson says the post-secondary is looking at bringing in programs for dental assistance, powerline technician and advanced care paramedic to help increase tuition. He said the earliest those programs could be offered is January 2026.
An increase in recruitment efforts for domestic students, seeking out more grant funding for research and finding alternative means to generate revenue are being explored, says Donaldson.
“What we’ve done is what we have to have done,” he said.
“Next year will be a similar challenge, but for the meantime we’re stable.”
