Sudbury-based Laurentian University is closing its Barrie campus at Georgian College after fifteen years.
The president of Laurentian University says the government refused to allow Laurentian to offer four year programs and denied expansion requests. A decision the university says was a last resort.
“Since 2010 we’ve been advised that if we leave Georgian College and deliver programs elsewhere in Barrie we will not be funded,” says Dominic Girous, President of Laurentian University.
Laurentian is the fifth university in recent years to leave the partnership program with the college.
Georgian officials say there is no need to be concerned.
“We’ve been given authority by the province to call all of our degrees ‘honour degrees,’ the same degree every university is offering in Ontario,” says MaryLynn West-Moynes, President of Georgian College.
Laurentian will stop offering Arts and Management programs in Barrie as of next May and will end the Social Work programs in May of 2019.
Laurentian has nearly 700 students in Barrie – all of whom will be able to complete their studies and graduate.
