Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

U of Guelph Closing Kemptville and Alfred Ag College Campuses?

I was sorry to hear that the University of Guelph is planning to close the two agriculture colleges.

I thought agriculture enrollment was increasing.

Were these colleges losing money?  Would seem to be the rationale for closing them?

Any information?

 

Views: 603

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by OntAG Admin on March 12, 2014 at 6:27am

U of G Consolidating Regional Campus Programs

March 12, 2014 - News Release

The University of Guelph will consolidate the academic and research programs delivered at its Kemptville and Alfred campuses in order to improve efficiency, ensure quality and best serve the agri-food sector, said U of G president Alastair Summerlee.

“We are operating in an era of scarce resources,” Summerlee said. “We must make difficult decisions together with changes that minimize duplication and preserve programs that are unique and central to our mission.”

The University also has an important responsibility to help sustain the productivity and vitality of Ontario’s agriculture and food industry, Summerlee said. “This requires us to respond to current and future challenges while meeting the needs of an evolving sector.”

As part of the consolidation plan, intake to academic programs at the Alfred and Kemptville campuses will be suspended for the fall 2014 semester. The University’s Ridgetown Campus will remain open.

Delivery of academic programs at the two campuses will cease by the end of 2015. Currently registered students at both campuses will be able to complete their programs.

The University is working with other Francophone institutions in the area as well as various Ontario government ministries to explore opportunities to offer similar programs for Ontario students who have applied for fall admission in Eastern Ontario.

Research projects at Alfred and Kemptville will be completed or relocated to Guelph or Ridgetown by the end of 2015.

The University is expected to continue to manage field crops research facilities at Alfred and Kemptville. Programs delivered through the New Liskeard Agricultural Research Station will remain unaffected for the immediate future.

Improved efficiencies will allow the University to reinvest in strategic areas that further support Ontario’s agri-food sector, including new research appointments at the Guelph campus, Summerlee said.

U of G has managed research and education programs and related facilities at Alfred and Kemptville since 1997.

Despite efforts over the past several years to introduce new revenue-generating educational programs and attract new students, enrolment at both campuses remains stagnant while operating costs have increased. Costs per full-time equivalent student are substantially higher at these campuses, Summerlee said.

Only 61 students are registered at the Alfred campus, with approximately half coming from outside Ontario.

At Kemptville, 128 students are enrolled in the mandated two-year associate diploma programs. Its largest program is the associate diploma in agriculture; the same program is offered at Ridgetown.

Another 51 Kemptville-based students are enrolled in the four-year bachelor of bio-resource management (BBRM) equine management degree. Those students spend two years at Kemptville and two years at Guelph.

“There are opportunities to strengthen the core of the program by centralizing it at Guelph,” Summerlee said. A similar Ridgetown BBRM program will also be moved to the Guelph campus.

Currently, it costs about $4.6 million a year to support teaching, research, operations and maintenance at Kemptville, and nearly $2.3 million at Alfred. There are also substantial indirect costs for things such as animal care, student support services and health and safety. “Clearly, this is not sustainable,” Summerlee said.

Consolidating the regional campus programs will eliminate upwards of 37 full-time positions at Alfred and 75 at Kemptville, as well as a number of part-time and casual workers.

“We regret that valued employees will be affected by this decision,” Summerlee said. “This action is in no way a reflection on the importance of their past contributions. These are difficult decisions but ones that are necessary and unavoidable.”

He said the University will work closely with employee group leaders to provide relocation counselling, severance allowances and other assistance to support laid-off employees.

There will be a few opportunities for transfers to Guelph or Ridgetown to support the consolidated teaching and research efforts of the University.

Decisions about programs that may be transferred to Guelph or Ridgetown, or continued in another format, will be made in the near future.

“Our focus must continue to be on providing training that best supports the province’s priorities for agri-food research, education and outreach,” Summerlee said.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Joe Dales on March 18, 2014 at 11:58am

▶ Reply to Discussion

RSS

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Senior government adviser 'astonished' at Ministers' failure to act swiftly

A senior advisor to the Scottish Government has said he was ‘astonished’ at Ministers’ failure to act swiftly on clear warnings that the Covid virus was ‘vastly more dangerous’ to the elderly and the vulnerable. Professor Mark Woolhouse, who was a member of the Scottish Covid-19 Advisory Group (C19AG) from March 2020, gave evidence to Baroness Hallett’s inquiry that ‘the single most important intervention was always to protect those most vulnerable to severe disease’. Despite this, he said, he and his C19AG colleagues struggled to get Ministers to listen and act on this crucial point despite delivering ‘at least half a dozen direct briefings to the First Minister’ on aspects of the pandemic. The professor, a leading expert on tracking infectious diseases, said: ‘I was astonished throughout those early stages, March through April 2020, how difficult it was to get people to accept that this virus was vastly more dangerous to the elderly, the infirm and the frail than it was to young,

Canada seeking to expand PHL agri role after success of dairy, hog collaboration

CANADA is seeking to expand its footprint in Philippine agriculture following the success of some of its collaborations in the Philippine hog and dairy industries, a Canadian government official said. Diedrah Kelly, executive director of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office, said at a food security forum late Monday that the use of Canadian technology in some Philippine farms has yielded efficiency and productivity gains. “As a result of this technology, the yield on those cows is about a liter more (of milk) each day than what they had previously,” Ms. Kelly said. “Canadian technology and genetic material are being provided for both pork and dairy,” she added. The technology-sharing supports the Philippines’ drive to expand its dairy industry. The Department of Agriculture (DA) said it set a target of 5% of the Philippines’ dairy requirements to be serviced by domestic production within the next two or three years. The Philippines currently imports about 99% of

This little piggy is in a selfie

Tourists love picturesque places — if a photo can do well on social media, you know that tourists are going to dig that attraction. However, at the New Forest National Park in southern England, tourists seem to love the pigs that roam the park, almost 600 of them. They seem to be so obsessed that they have befriended them and are constantly taking pictures with them. Some of them took it to an extreme and took selfies with the phone near their snouts, while other park workers have also noticed the tourists leaping out of their cars and following the piglets down a busy road. While a few other tourists have taken a more respectful and gentle approach. The visitors have now been labelled the “piggy tourists”, a social crime that has annoyed people at the park as well as those in charge of animal welfare. The reason there are so many pigs in the park is becuse of a yearly ritual called “pannage”, where the swine are released to eat up all the acorns and nuts that could otherwise be toxi

Pig finds new forever home after Albuquerque highway chase

A 1-year-old pig that led New Mexico authorities on an Albuquerque highway chase has a new permanent home, officials said. The pig was spotted on the Interstate 40 off-ramp to Louisiana Boulevard on Nov. 11 and video captured at the scene shows Albuquerque officers chasing the slippery swine through the roadway. The pig was eventually taken to Albuquerque's Westside Shelter and Albuquerque Animal Welfare announced on social media that the animal has found a new forever home. The new owners, who dubbed the pig Boar-is, said they saw his plight on the news and knew he needed to become a new member of the family. The owners, Jerrod and Katherine Hinchman, have another pig named Swine-nona. "When we saw him running, we just saw his little spirit and how hard he was working to survive. And we just knew that he would fit right in with our pig," the Hinchmans told KRQE-TV. The couple said their property has a sturdy fence, so Boar-is will not be going on anymore highway adventures anyti

duBreton Responds to Health Canada's Pause on Cloned-Animal Novel Food Policy

duBreton acknowledges Health Canada's decision to indefinitely paused its proposed update to the novel food policy governing foods derived from cloned cattle and swine, as well as their progeny. The organization's recent announcement credits the hold to the volume and nature of feedback received from both industry stakeholders and the public. As a Canadian leader in responsible and ethically raised pork production, duBreton welcomes this pause as an important opportunity for Canadian food officials to deepen engagement with producers, retailers, and most importantly Canadian consumers. "Canadians expect clarity, transparency, and meaningful consultation on issues that directly touch their food supply," said Vincent Breton, duBreton President. "As producers, we consider it our responsibility and believe our governing food authorities should too." duBreton reached out to Health Canada following the novel food announcement and received confirmation, gene-editing technologies are not in

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service