Fanshawe College sets its sights on the world stage

More students sought from outside Canada A year past its 35th anniversary and on the cusp of launching only its second major fundraising campaign, London’s Fanshawe College is intensifying plans to increase its international presence. The college’s new strategic plan calls for increased academic planning, developing a student success strategy and expanding international recruitment. “Part of this plan is to develop international education here at Fanshawe on two fronts,” says Howard Rundle, Fanshawe’s president since 1995. “One is to increase enrollment of international students on our campus. Our reason for that is students in London at Fanshawe College do not get the exposure to other nationalities, races and cultures as they would if they attended university or college in Toronto. By doing this, we are going to expose everyone to these other cultures, make them more sensitive to other cultures and make them more successful in their line of work in the future.” Five years ago, there were only 25 international students on the campus. Now, there are more than 200, not including students enrolled only in the English as a second language programming. These students represent more than 30 different countries. The college aims to increase their international enrollment to three per cent of its student body by 2007. This would be equal to about 450 students. “I think it is a challenge but I think it is possible or we wouldn’t set it for ourselves; we want to strive for that,” Dr. Rundle says. “The second international piece involves Fanshawe doing projects in foreign countries. Right now, we are active in Beirut, Lebanon. This started some years ago when we assisted developing a college-level nursing program in Beirut.” He says the infrastructure in Beirut was sufficient but many people were dying because there was not an organized paramedics program. Fanshawe is also offering an exact replica of their fashion curriculum in India. “We hope to do more of those,” Dr. Rundle says. “First of all, they are really interesting opportunities for our staff because they always involve our staff going to other places and it is part of our international mandate, it is a good thing to do in the world and it is profitable.” The international push comes at a time of renewal and expansion at Fanshawe, which has 40,000 part-time and 14,000 full-time students, as well as the more than 89,000 alumni. The goal of the new fundraising campaign is $15 million, Dr. Rundle says. “It is not a secret that Fanshawe is doing a capital campaign but there has not been a public announcement about it yet. We are embarking on a capital campaign,” he says. “The last one was in 1990. So far, we have raised approximately $5 million internally.” Included are plans to continue a capital expansion with the completion of the new Student Centre next spring. A new centre for construction trades and technology is also on the horizon. Eight new programs will be launched. “We have a new academic plan that is for the first time allowing us to move into degree granting and that is because a couple of years ago, the government gave permission for colleges to grant applied degrees,” Dr. Rundle explains. “Granting applied degrees is just one way of meeting the needs of some students to have both applied training and a degree.” A bachelor of applied arts in integrated land planning technologies will be the first of its kind. It will envelop urban planning, landscape and graphic design programs. “We will be adding one applied degree each year for the next couple of years; our academic plan is more than just about saying, ‘let’s grant some applied degrees’,” Dr. Rundle says. “Applied degrees will have a very significant component of hands-on experience and they will always be aimed at specific employment opportunities. General university degrees are more broad in terms of the training, are more theoretical and not aimed directly at employment so you could describe them as a general education.” When you compare these new applied degrees to college diplomas, they are different too. Perhaps most obvious, diplomas are at a lower academic level and will have a heavier focus on practical education. Dr. Rundle says the students will not require academic marks to be as high in the diploma programs. Diplomas will be shorter in length and usually cheaper in terms of tuition costs. These applied degrees are only one way for students to obtain both applied and theory-based education. There are a number of articulated arrangements between the college and the University of Western Ontario. These partnerships accomplish essentially the same goals. “We have two programs where students spend part of their time at Western and part at Fanshawe. At the end of that time, they will have a Western degree and a Fanshawe diploma,” Dr. Rundle says. “That is proving hugely popular for students.” Nursing and media theory and production are two examples of this programming. A student success strategy is also critical to this year’s plan. Dr. Rundle says the college is sometimes distressed with high failure rates. These vary dramatically from program to program, but it is crucial the college not lower their graduation standards as a way to dissolve the problem. The college intends to implement a series of questionnaires and surveys for students to participate in. They will examine the services, faculty and programming students received and what they think of the quality. “We are seriously looking at what we can do to help students be more successful and help them graduate,” he says. “This depends on why students aren’t successful. One reason, particularly among younger students right out of high school, is they don’t fully appreciate the lifestyle they are getting into by coming to college.” They don’t realize the extent of the work involved and the help that is available to them, he adds. In an attempt to prepare these prospective students in plenty of time, the college is now offering orientation days earlier than before. These officially started two weeks ago and are open to students and their parents. “These are all-day sessions to really try and help them understand what college life is going to be like, what is expected of them, what support is going to be there for them if they have difficulty and what the program is going to be like.” Hopefully, this will reduce the number of students who get about a month into the school year and discover they have made the wrong decision. When this happens, Dr. Rundle says they can lose out on a semester, an entire year and certainly their tuition. He also says students who may have been on a wait list for that program because they knew it was what they wanted have been rejected unnecessarily. This will allow students ample opportunity to choose a program they will enjoy and be appropriate for. “We are putting a big emphasis on the students with this strategic plan,” Dr. Rundle says. “When they leave, we want them to believe they have received the highest quality of education and services that we could possibly deliver.” Source: The Londoner. July 16, 2004:"Fanshawe College sets its sights on the world stage" By MARDY BACIGALUPO The Londoner