A spokesperson for the university, Chad Pelley, said this was not due to budget cuts, or associated with recent cost-saving measures. Pelley said MUN considered enrolment, learning outcomes, and whether programs can be completed in a reasonable time, given faculty and course offerings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The dean of humanities and social sciences did point to tightening budgets as a factor in her decision to cut programs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just can\u2019t keep doing all the same numbers of things that we\u2019ve been doing while having fewer and fewer resources in the form of faculty members, dollars, etcetera to support those programs,\u201d said Natasha Hurley.<\/p>\n
N.L. studies certificate among cuts<\/p>\n
Six diploma and certificate programs were cut in that faculty, including Newfoundland and Labrador studies, ancient languages, ancient worlds, food studies, the humanities diploma and the diploma in environmental humanities.<\/p>\n
Hurley said enrolment was low in those programs, with each of them graduating between zero and four students every year since 2021.<\/p>\n
Students will still be able to take courses in those subjects, Hurley said. However, her faculty has had to cut courses each year due to shrinking budgets \u2014 about 96 this year across the faculty, she said.<\/p>\n
Nathan Gillingham, with MUN\u2019s undergraduate students’ union, was specifically concerned about losing the Newfoundland and Labrador studies certificate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat other universities would (offer) that, if not MUN?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hurley said the faculty was still committed to offering courses in N.L. studies, and doing research on the subject.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is an area that we are not going to abandon,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Students at Memorial University. (CBC)Faculty association says more programs at risk<\/p>\n
MUN\u2019s faculty association said many more programs are at risk, linking the changes to the university’s financial situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur members are struggling to contain the damage, and doing their best to limit the impacts on students,\u201d said president Lisa Moores in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut program cancellations mean less choice and less opportunity, and that should be of concern to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
LISTEN | St. John’s Morning Show breaks down MUN program cuts:<\/p>\n
St John’s Morning Show8:00MUN has halted more than a dozen academic programs over the past year. We found out what’s cut — and why<\/p>\n
Memorial University has cut some of its academic programs — in part, because of low enrolment.\u00a0The CBC’s Laura Howells told us what’s getting the axe and what it means for MUN.3-year bachelor of nursing paused<\/p>\n
MUN also suspended the accelerated three-year bachelor of nursing, saying it needed \u201csignificant resources yet is rarely filled to capacity.\u201d Pelley said students often decided to move to the four-year option or leave the program.<\/p>\n
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Registered Nurses’ Union President Yvette Coffey is concerned about MUN’s decision to suspend the accelerated bachelor of nursing program. (Nathan Wells\/CBC)Former student disappointed with MBA cut<\/p>\n