St. Clair’s Enrolment Up 11 Percent, Topping 10,000

St. Clair’s enrolment is up by 11 percent this year (compared to fall of 2016-17), with over 10,000 students at its four campuses: Windsor South/Main, Windsor Downtown, Thames/Chatham, and in Toronto at its partnered private-sector school (Ace Acumen Academy).

As of mid-September when the “official” count was recorded by the Registrar’s Office, there were 10,886 postsecondary students enrolled (10,539 of those being full-time). There were also 310 students enrolled in Adult Training programs, and 757 in college-delivered apprenticeships.

That is a grand total of 11,953 students – up 11 percent from 2016-17’s 10,846. (Strictly in terms of postsecondary enrolment, the percentage increase is 12 percent.)

Overall, the enrolment increase is composed of a ten percent increase in first-year/incoming students, and healthy retention numbers for returning second- and third-year students.

CAMPUS-BY-CAMPUS (POSTSECONDARY)

• Windsor’s South/Main Campus has 8,306 students this year, up six percent from last year;

• Windsor’s Downtown Campuses (Centre for the Arts and MediaPlex) see 935 students enrolled, up 11 percent;

• Thames Campus in Chatham houses 1,248 students, up six percent; and

• The four St. Clair programs offered at Toronto’s Ace Acumen Academy have an enrolment of 1,464 students, up a whopping 56 percent compared to 2016-17.

Despite the popularity of the partnerships established by several public colleges with private, language-training colleges for immigrants in Toronto (such as the St. Clair/Acumen pairing), the provincial Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development recently announced that it was suspending this new educational format. Among other issues, the ministry concluded that the partnerships – a few of which have been in existence for several years – were not providing immigrant students with “the complete Canadian educational experience”. The partnerships will be “wound down” by the end of the 2018-19 academic year, allowing those who are currently enrolled to complete their educations and graduate. For more info about the ministry’s directive to dissolve the partnerships, see:
http://www.stclair-src.org/news/need-know-news/publicprivate-college-partnerships-mothballed

SCHOOL-BY-SCHOOL (POSTSECONDARY)

• 2017-18 enrolment in the School of Community Studies (Downtown) is 327, up 12 percent;

• There are 608 students in the School of Media, Art and Design at the Downtown Campuses, up 11 percent;

• Main Campus: School of Business and Information Technology, 1,975 students, up 20 percent;

• Main Campus, School of Community Studies, 1,088 students, down one percent;

• Main Campus, School of Engineering Technologies, 1,153 students, up one percent;

• Main Campus, School of Health Sciences, 851 students, down one percent;

• Main Campus, School of Nursing, 1,237 students, up 11 percent;

• Main Campus, School of Media Arts and Design, 342 student, up one percent

• Main Campus, School of Apprenticeships and Trades – Industrial and Transportation, 500 students, down six percent;

• Main Campus, School of Apprenticeships and Trades – Construction and Services, 127 students, up ten percent;

• The School of Academic Studies at Thames Campus has 654 students, up nine percent;

• Thames’ School of Nursing has 428 students, up three percent; and

• The School of Health Sciences at Thames has 132 students, up two percent;

• 1,464 students are enrolled in four St. Clair programs at Toronto’s Ace Acumen Academy, up 56 percent.

INTERNATIONAL INFLUX CONTINUES

The Registration Statistics Report (slated to be presented by the college’s administration to the Board of Governors during its September 26 meeting) also noted that the school had attracted just over 2,500 international students this year – the 1,464 at Ace Acumen, and a record-setting 1,100 at the Windsor and Thames Campuses. The latter number is up 90 percent from 2016-17’s enrolment of 581 international students.

(That means that Canadian/domestic enrolment stands at just under 8,000 students – still a fairly healthy number, given the declining population of local high schools in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent.)

The vast majority of international students hail from India and China.

PRESIDENTIAL COMMENT

“During our 50th anniversary year, when we will be awarding a diploma to our 100,000th graduate (during October's Convocation sessions), it is exciting to be recording another milestone number with an enrolment in excess of 10,000 students," said St. Clair President Patti France.

“More than that, it is heartening to realize that both domestic and international students have recognized St. Clair as an exceptional postsecondary destination, offering unparalleled instruction and state-of-the-art technology to pursue the careers of the 21st century.

“Coupled with the crucial task of addressing the skills gap in trades-and-technology, we continue to furnish expertise-laden graduates to the fields of health-care, engineering, manufacturing, business, information technology, social services and the applied arts – all of which are essential to the well-being of our community, and the prosperity of the local, provincial and national economies.”