Article - Province hasn't made any decision on if Barrie will get a new campus

Ontario's Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has not made any decisions about new university campuses, and that includes Barrie.

There's not even a short list of communities where new campuses could be built. The process is still at the planning of policy stage.

“We are developing a policy on the creation of new campuses and the major expansion of existing campuses,” said ministry spokesman Gyula Kovacs. “The new policy will help ensure sustainable growth and innovation in Ontario’s post-secondary education system and is particularly important in this period of fiscal restraint.”

Ontario's Liberal government is running a $15-billion-plus deficit, at last count.

Asked if the province has made any decisions on new university campuses in Ontario, Kovacs' answer was “no.”

It was the same answer about any approved, current funding in any provincial budget to pay for any new university campuses.

“The ministry is continuing to develop a policy to guide major capacity expansions,” he said. “Funding sources for capital investments will be determined at a later date.”

The Liberals promised to build three new Ontario university undergraduate campuses in the 2011 Throne Speech.

A Canadian Press story identified Barrie, Milton and Brampton as sites to be picked, although the province did not confirmed them at the time.

City council asked the province to designate Barrie as a site for the province's next university campus.

“Several communities and institutions have contacted the ministry to request information about the forthcoming policy or to communicate an interest in developing a new campus,” Kovacs said. “However, at this time, no decisions have been made.”

Sudbury-based Laurentian University, which already partners with Georgian College in Barrie, has a 2012-2017 strategic plan which includes a downtown campus here.

With a downtown Barrie campus, Laurentian wants to significantly increase its full-time enrolment, better integrate classroom learning with real-world experience and increase its proportion of international students.

Laurentian has pledged $14 million toward the $60-million campus, as has Barrie city council. The campus requires about 20 acres of land for a 162,000-square-foot facility, with a private student residence and 500 on-site parking spaces for 3,000 students, or 2,500 full-time equivalents.

But the province still needs to pick Barrie as one of the new university campus sites, fund its share of the cost to build it and pay the operating expenses – salaries, benefits, etc.

Source - Bruton - Barrie Examiner