Saint Mary’s University to axe English-language training centre

An education centre at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax that has helped thousands of students from other countries improve their English will close this spring, a measure the university says is due to a declining demand for such training at the school.

The decision, which was announced to employees of the Language Centre on Tuesday, was a shock to the two dozen or so staff and instructors who work at the centre, according to a union representative.

Lauren McKenzie, an instructor and representative of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the centre, which dates back to the 1990s, was at the “forefront of diversification in our region,” and has helped support and integrate international students and newcomers into the life of the university and the city.

“We are their family,” she said.

The university declined an interview request but said the centre will cease operations by May 1. University spokesperson Margaret Murphy said in an email that English-language training has seen a “steady shift to private-sector providers.”

At its height, the centre taught hundreds of people a year, but Murphy said it is now down to between 30 and 50 students and clients each term.

The move by university administrators comes the same week the federal government said it will cap the number of student visas issued over the next two years, cutting the number by 35 per cent from 2023 levels.

Murphy said the decision to close the Language Centre is not linked to the cap and predates the announcement from Ottawa. The main factor, she said, is the decline in demand for English-as-a-second-language programs at the university.

“The demand for ESL training at SMU had already waned prior to COVID and COVID exacerbated that trend,” she said in the email.

Saint Mary’s is facing financial problems, with expenses outpacing revenues over the last three years. In an email to employees Tuesday, university president Robert Summerby-Murray said it has reduced expenses by freezing hiring, not filling vacancies and cutting down on travel and hospitality. 

The financial problems, he said, are related to inflation, declining tuition revenue mainly due to a drop in international student enrolment, and “static” government funding. He warned the “road ahead is not an easy one and will require some difficult decisions and changes.”

The Language Centre, which has been in operation in one form or another for at least 25 years, offers courses to students conditionally accepted at Saint Mary’s but who must upgrade their English to meet proficiency standards. 

It also runs short-term intensive courses for students from foreign universities and for professionals in other countries who want to improve their fluency in the language, according to McKenzie.

Students pay between $2,000 and $4,600 in tuition for courses that last between several weeks and four months, according to the centre’s website.

The centre also offers a certificate program to teach English, and has trained more than a thousand people who have gone on to work in various parts of the world.

Saint Mary’s has over the years welcomed thousands of students from other countries, although the number at the university is currently lower than it was five years ago, according to figures compiled by the Atlantic Association of Universities.

There were roughly 1,700 international students enrolled at Saint Mary’s this fall, representing more than 25 per cent of the student body.