New college controversy akin to 2006 situation at Simon Fraser University

Magally Zelaya, Staff

When the Australian company IBT Education Ltd. signed a contract with Simon Fraser University to open a pathway college in 2006, the SFU community had an opportunity to learn more about the agreement before it was finalized and senate voted on the agreement before it was passed by the SFU Board of Governors.

When the same company (now called Navitas) pursued a partnership with the U of M, no such consultation occurred.

In early December 2007, U of M senate members were surprised to find out that the university had entered into an agreement to establish a private college called the International College of Manitoba (ICM) set to begin operations in September 2008.

Navitas is an Australia-based company that defines itself as a “global education provider.” It has 18 institutions around the world (including ICM) that offer a number of programs including English as a second language instruction along with pathway programs that lead to acceptance into university programs.

The ICM, to be located on the U of M’s campus, is Navitas’ second Canadian institute, the first being the Fraser International College (FIC) at SFU.

IBT Education Ltd. approached SFU in the fall of 2005, according to Sarah Dench, director of university curriculum at SFU, at which time they began talks and two SFU vice-presidents visited Australia.

Discussions surrounding the proposal continued throughout the fall of 2005 and in November, the university consulted senate committees and the Board of Governors.

“We wanted to make sure that we had the conversations on the different points of views,” said Dench.

In late January 2006, the university community received an e-mail informing of the proposed agreement. The SFU Faculty Association, however, had heard nothing of the proposal and had a week to investigate the matter before a scheduled senate vote, according to reports in SFU’s student newspaper, the Peak.

In response, John Waterhouse, vice-president (academic) and provost, said in January 2006, as reported in the Peak: “We’ve met with every faculty’s administrative committee — deans, the department chairs, the dean’s advisory committees. We’ve met with all of the relevant senate committees on this, I think it’s somewhere in the number of 11 to a dozen consultations right now with various folks.”

He continued, “When I started on this role, I felt that it was very important to tell people, that’s why we contacted the [students’ society]s, we told senate committees what we were up to, and set up all this consultation stuff. I kind of assumed that among the faculties it would be discussed.”

At this point, various other SFU organizations stepped up to formally oppose the agreement. Among them are the faculty association, the Teaching Support Staff Union, the Students’ Society, and the International Students’ Group.

The Peak reported on a number of their concerns: the failure to consult extensively, the privatization of public education, risks to SFU reputation, addressing retention issues from within the university, and the dangers associated with SFU relying on international student fees.

Two open forums were held and a senate vote was turned into a Q and A during February 2006.

In March 2006, controversy inside IBT Education Ltd. made headlines when Trevor Flugge, the chair of the company’s board of directors, stepped down after he was charged with bribing the Iraq government in the UN Oil-For-Food Program in 2003.

That same month, the proposal passed senate with a vote of 27 to 15 and in late March the proposal passed the Board of Governors.

Legally, FIC is not affiliated with the university: the college is a separate private entity and legally can only describe itself as “in partnership with” or a “pathway to” SFU, according to Dench.

SFU provides the college with space free of charge as part of the agreement and the university benefits from the company’s recruitment services, the tuition fees of students who transfer, and a royalty on the students registered at the college.

Reports in the Peak from 2006 stated that SFU was set to receive 30 per cent of the tuition charged to FIC students — an amount that would be $10 million a year by the fifth and final year.

Dench would not disclose the royalty amount.

She did say that the profit is used to improve international student support, to create scholarships and bursaries for international students, and for the remuneration of the departments that monitor the course quality of the first-year university courses taught by the college.

SFU provides yearly update reports to senate, said Dench, and the university will engage in an assessment of the students who have transferred into the university at the end of the five-year contract.

At FIC, the first intake was September 2006. There are currently 500 students in attendance at the college, which is halfway to the agreed recruitment goal of 1,000. As decreed in the contract more space will be allotted to provide the college with facilities for the growing student body.

The students, though not considered SFU students, are allowed to use services such as the library thanks to a fee paid to SFU by the college.

FIC students are also allowed to apply for spaces in residence. “If there’s space available. They’re not displacing SFU students,” explained Dench.

FIC students are largely provided for by First Choice International Placement Inc., a company that specializes in matching students with a homestay.

Last fall, the first 19 graduates of FIC transferred to the university and another 25 did so in January of this year.

As will be the case at the International College of Manitoba, entrance into SFU is not guaranteed, but is conditional upon the same minimum GPA that applies to all new students.

There is no minimum GPA required to enter FIC.

In contrast to the reason that U of M vice-president gave for signing with Navitas — high failure rates of first-year international students — Dench said that failure rates were not considered when SFU chose to sign with Navitas (then IBT Education Ltd.).

Instead, Dench cited increased competitiveness from other countries that recruit in the same areas, an increase in the efforts of many Asian countries to keep their university students at home, and consequently a need to diversify their recruitment as the primary reasons why SFU pursued the unconventional educational model.

“We were also having retention issues,” she added. “I wouldn’t just contribute it to a failure rate.”

Also in contrast to the current situation in Manitoba, British Columbia’s post-secondary system has a history of transferring college students directly into university programs.

“It also wasn’t as much of a jump for us because we’re already used to working with colleges in a really close way,” said Dench.