‘We will need to be brave’: KPU senate braces for program closures amid declining international enrolment

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s senate discussed future program closures during a Jan. 26 meeting in light of a decline in international student enrolment.

Provost and Vice-President Academic Diane Purvey said spring 2026 enrolment is below projections, resulting in an about $7.9-million revenue loss.

Given current Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) policies, Purvey said international student enrolment will continue to decline over the next few years.

She added that even if new international enrolment stabilizes, the total number of international students will continue to decline because the number of students graduating far exceeds the amount of new students KPU receives each year.

“I have asked the deans to work in their faculties to make decisions about programs that make sense through their discussions with faculty and departments in those faculties,” Purvey said.

“These are decisions about what we can sustain with our student population and resources, as well [as] evidence of demand for revised versions of programs, areas in which we overlap with other institutions, feedback from students, from our broader community and businesses, and many other factors.”

Under KPU’s Policy AC10, Purvey said there are three different actions that can be taken regarding program closures.

The first option is intake cancellation, where a dean can cancel intake in a program in hopes it can be rescheduled in a subsequent term. They do this to respond to a short-term issue, such as having too few students or a lack of funding, Purvey said.

“We have had to cancel several intakes this year in areas in which the number of students accepting seats wouldn’t sustain a healthy program. This is only a temporary action and it’s something that happens not often, but it has happened continually since I’ve been here.”

The second action outlined in the policy is voting to suspend a program, where intakes won’t be offered for a defined time period. Suspensions are helpful for departments to restructure a program or review if they should move in a different direction, Purvey said.

The final option is recommending the board of governors discontinue a program, meaning it will be permanently closed.

“We will need to be brave as we make these decisions in the coming months, and some of these discussions will be coming to senate, so this is preparing you to have these discussions,” Purvey said.

Senate approved revisions to the post-baccalaureate diploma in human resources management and related courses, effective Sept. 1. The program was originally 42 credits and “designed to meet the needs of a primarily international student body,” but it has faced low enrolment caused by changes in the international student enrolment, the meeting’s agenda noted.

The program was revised to realign the diploma with the needs of the mature domestic market.

The revised program is 33 credits and features two new courses: HRMT 5210: Labour and Employee Relations and HRMT 5300: Strategic Human Resources Management Practicum. Nine courses were revised and two were discontinued.

Senate also suspended the citation in cloud architecture and security program, effective Jan. 1.

“There was not much response to this program, unfortunately, very low enrolment, and obviously, in a time of fiscal constraint, that is not very helpful,” said Senate Vice-Chair Catherine Schwichtenberg, who led the meeting as KPU President Bruce Choy was away.

Senate approved a list of graduates as well as a list of new, revised, and discontinued courses. There was one new course on the list from the Faculty of Arts’ educational studies program: EDUC 3100: Nonviolence Education. Eleven courses were revised: seven in creative writing, two in psychiatric nursing, one in criminology, and one in math.

There were 13 discontinued courses in the Faculty of Trades and Technology, most of which were in mechatronics and advanced manufacturing technology (MAMT), a program senate voted to discontinue in October 2024. These courses were presented for discontinuance as a housekeeping item, Schwichtenberg said. One millwright course was also discontinued.

Senate voted to remove all prerequisite requirements from three Indigenous studies courses, effective May 1, to remove barriers to student registration. The courses were INDG 1492: Indigenous Perspectives in Biology, which is cross-listed with a biology class of the same name, INDG 2100: Indigenous Sexuality & Gender, and INDG 2150: Indigenous Families & Healing.

Members of senate also voted to remove all prerequisites for three courses within the journalism and communication studies department, effective May 1: JRNL 2120: Storytelling: Writing for Journalism, JRNL 2230: Multimedia Storytelling, and COMM 2210: Media, Audiences, and Popular Culture.

“The arts [standing committee on curriculum] decided that these prerequisites were not helping registration. There was no pedagogical reason for them to actually require them,” Schwichtenberg said.

Senate also approved revisions to 14 programs within the Faculty of Trades and Technology to reserve four seats for self-declared Indigenous students in each program, effective Sept. 1.

These programs are certificates in appliance servicing, automotive service technician, farrier science, and welding foundation and citations in carpentry/building construction, construction electrician, masonry, metal fabrication/fitter, millwright/industrial mechanic, plumbing, plumbing and piping, welding level A, welding level B, and parts, warehousing, logistics, and distribution.

University Librarian Todd Mundle shared a presentation on the 2025-27 Library Strategic Plan, a document that outlines the vision and goals of the KPU library.

“We’ve taken very much a humanistic approach to the plan, and it’s been quite reflected in terms of our values, our commitments, and the four goals we’ve come forward with,” Mundle said.

“They’re all really focused on the humans we help within the library environment and making sure all of the structures, programming, and services we have in place are really putting the person first, in terms of how we want to be able to support students and faculty as they work here.”

The four goals outlined in the plan are providing welcoming spaces, vibrant communities, versatile instruction, and open knowledge. The library’s values noted in the plan are adaptability, equity, and humanity.

Members of senate also appointed academic and career preparation instructor Bogdan Bryja to the senate standing committee on program review until Aug. 31, 2028. They also appointed student Raymond Chou and faculty members Elise Strand, Laura Del Rio Torres, Lorraine Guild, Muska Safi, and Nikki Purewal to a search advisory committee for the Faculty of Health associate dean role.

Schwichtenberg said senate election nominations run until Feb. 13. She called on senators to encourage their colleagues who are interested in governance to be called for nominations.

The next KPU senate meeting is scheduled for March 2 at 4:00 pm online via Microsoft Teams. For more information, visit www.kpu.ca/senate.