The closure of the campus at Alfred leaves Ontario with no
francophone college for agriculture students.
The closure of the campus at Kempville means there will be
no agricultural colleges in Eastern Ontario.
Existing students will be allowed to continue untll
graduation, said university president Alisgtair Summerlee. He is scheduled to retire
in August when Franco Vaccacino of the University of Toronto becomes president.
There are 61 students at Alfred and 249 at Kemptville.
"There are opportunities to
strengthen the core of the (bio-resources management) 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,” the university said in a news release.
“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 more than 37 full-time positions at Alfred and 75 at Kemptville,
as well as a number of part-time and casual workers. The university did not
indicate how many more than those figures are at risk.
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," the statement says.
