Enrollment numbers on the rise at St. Clair College

By Y. Murad Erzinclioglu

Enrollment may be down at the University of Windsor but the number of students at St. Clair College continues to rise.

Over the past decade enrollment at the college has steadily increased year after year. In 2002 the college had 5,601 students and now provides education opportunities for 8,263, an increase of 48 per cent in 11 years.

With three out of every 10 students enrolled in a health science program, St. Clair College has become the number one post secondary educator of health science students in the province. The college launched three new programs in 2011 to support the burgeoning health science department including cardiovascular technology, respiratory therapy and ultrasound programs.

Ann Hetherington, director of marketing and student recruitment at St. Clair College, says the health science programs are not the only areas that have seen recent increases.

“In the past year or so we have also seen a rebound in our skilled trades programs as industry has come back out of the recession. Programs like electrical techniques, and other skilled trades are very popular as career paths,” Hetherington said. “The School of Media Art & Design has also seen an increase in applications this year as compared to last year, thanks to a couple of new programs like fashion design and event management.”

Hetherington said the growth comes from a variety of factors, with both mainstay programs increasing in numbers as well as the development and implementation of new programs at the college. She believes keeping the college growing requires a multi-pronged approach.

“It’s not just about marketing any number of programs, it’s really about the overall image and name reputation for excellence in education,” Hetherington said. “When those pieces are in place with respect to all of our programs, it makes it that much easier to go out into the marketplace and promote the college as a whole.”

Ryan Peebles, associate registrar at St. Clair College, said program development and the overall image of the college are not the only factors that have contributed to the recent growth.

“We do strive here to have an upward trend, to try to always increase our application base as well as our first year student base,” Peebles said. “We did notice a huge increase back in 2008, that’s where second-career came into play when the government stepped in and started to offer second career help to students who were on layoff or looking to regenerate a new career for themselves.”

Veronique Mandal, coordinator of the journalism program at St. Clair College, said the program has seen a major increase in enrollment since moving into the MediaPlex in the downtown core. Despite enrollment growth in programs across the board, Mandal made the internal decision to accept about 10 fewer students than in prior years.

“We took fewer students this year just to see if it was a good idea,” Mandal said. “What often happens in journalism schools is that you’ll have people who, because they like to write poetry or books, they think a journalism program is where they want to go.”

Mandal said false expectations often result in about eight to 10 students leaving the program before completing their first year. The decision to take in fewer students was made to combat this trend.

“We thought that we’d get fewer students leaving the program, but I don’t think that will ever be the case,” Mandal said. “I think we are going to go back up to our regular enrollment next year.”

With even more programs and campus buildings springing up in the next two years, St. Clair College’s growth is likely to continue. More information about St. Clair College and all of their programs can be found at www.stclaircollege.ca.