{"id":339181,"date":"2025-12-11T23:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339181\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T23:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:18:13","slug":"cambrian-college-expanding-health-care-programs-amid-enrolment-shifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339181\/","title":{"rendered":"Cambrian College expanding health-care programs amid enrolment shifts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sudbury college has suspended intake to 16 programs this year largely due to international student policy changes, but it\u2019s also expanding into other areas<\/p>\n

At a time when the post-secondary sector is very much in flux, Cambrian College\u2019s board heard Dec. 10 about the college\u2019s areas of growth, which include health-care programs.<\/p>\n

Recent numbers provided by Cambrian show its international student population is shrinking (1,512 this fall as opposed to 2,630 in 2024) and its domestic student population is growing (3,791 this fall as opposed to 3,513 in 2024).<\/p>\n

So far this year, Cambrian has already suspended 16 programs<\/a>, most of them due to federal policy changes affecting international students.<\/p>\n

But, as Cambrian\u2019s board heard, there are also areas where the college is expanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there’s only two ways that colleges can drive enrolment,\u201d said Janice Clarke, Cambrian\u2019s vice-president, academic, in a presentation to the board of governors.\u201cOne is to bring forward new programs. The other is to expand existing programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the college has been driving enrolment by expanding the number of seats in some of its in-demand programs by increasing intake sizes and opening up winter and spring intakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince late 2024 we have added 414 new seats in our high demand programs (eg. Practical Nursing, Bachelor Science in Nursing, Paramedic, HVAC, Electrical Engineering Technician \/ Technology),\u201d said a report included in the board package.<\/p>\n

For example, the practical nursing program has added 64 seats by adding winter and spring student intakes, and the bachelor\u2019s of nursing program has expanded its fall intake by 16 seats and added a winter intake of 24 seats.

\nExpanding health-related programs is being incentivized by the province due to labour market issues, Clarke said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I can’t remember the exact number, but I think for nursing, for every seat we’re able to expand, it’s about $8,300 per student, and actually we get that funding for all the years that they’re in the program,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

During the Dec. 10 meeting, Cambrian\u2019s board also approved its 2025-2026 program development framework, which \u201coutlines all the governance structure that guides decision making around programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In making decisions around expanding or suspending programs, Clarke said the university is considering the impact of federal decisions surrounding international students, provincial funding, emerging markets and labour needs.<\/p>\n

Clarke provided the board with an overview of some of the new programs it plans to introduce.<\/p>\n

Several of them are \u201cresponding to needs around health care,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As recently announced, responding to labour needs, Cambrian is bringing back its dental assisting program in January that it suspended during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The college recently announced it had received $2.6 million in federal funding<\/a> to bring back the program and build a new simulation lab.<\/p>\n

Clarke said the college is also potentially looking at bringing forward a new two-year graduate certificate in ultrasound.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we previously had a three-year advanced diploma that was suspended,\u201d she said. \u201cWe’re thinking there may be a market for a two-year graduate certificate in ultrasound. So that’s something just to look forward to.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these may you may not actually ever see because we do go through such an intensive internal process. But these are the things we’re working on.\u201d

\nCambrian is also exploring a graduate certificate in communicative disorders assistant. \u201cAnd that’s just to build on some of the strengths we have in the developmental service sector as well as the learning disability sector,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The college is planning to launch new Nutrition and Food Service Management diploma, Bachelor of Applied Computing, Serious Games – Design and Development and Building<\/p>\n

Construction Technician \u2013 Carpentry programs this fall.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still waiting on ministry approval for its Bachelor of Paramedicine program. \u201cThat’s going through some additional stages with the Ministry of Health, and that is still in the works,\u201d Clarke said.<\/p>\n

Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com\u2019s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sudbury college has suspended intake to 16 programs this year largely due to international student policy changes, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,148684,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-339181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-cambrian-collegecambrian-college-program-suspensionscambrian-college-program-expansions","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}