Insert date here
Hon. Dalton McGuinty
Office of the Premier
Legislative Bldg
Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
M7A1A1
Dear Hon. Dalton McGuinty,
I compose this letter today with concerns for my fellow students and
myself. The shared-delivery model that is currently in place at the Laurentian
Barrie campus may be financially beneficial to the participating institutions but
the Partnership Agreement between Georgian College and Laurentian University is
detrimental to the educational experience of the students enrolled in this program.
Today I am writing to your office to ask for consideration of some of the following
issues that exist at the Barrie campus and generally with the shared delivery model:
resources, faculty, extracurricular activities, and information technology. Many
students enter the Laurentian program in Barrie to stay close to home and save
money in their post-secondary studies and are suffering for this choice by not
receiving the same quality program that Laurentian offers in Sudbury.
The students at the Barrie campus do not have adequate resources for a
proper university education. The library at Georgian College does not have a large
quantity of resources to choose from and the qualities of the resources available at
the library are poor at best. The library does not have enough computers for
students to access and it is very difficult to get access to a computer on campus.
There are limited quite spaces for study within the library and throughout the
school.
Students do have access to RACER (book exchange program through
Laurentian Library) but the wait time on the arrival of resources from Laurentian
is long and students must plan far in advance to anticipate wait times on materials.
New students to the program find RACER to be confusing and often obtain materials
much later than anticipated. Students that do not want to use this resource
exchange program are forced to use all online resources or travel to another
university to find adequate materials. The amount of resources that are available to
students on campus is a disgrace and is not nearly an appropriate level of materials
to serve a student obtaining a university education.
Faculty is also finding it difficult to deliver their courses because
of the shared-delivery model being used at the Barrie campus. Faculty does not have
the required space on campus to prepare material to deliver in their courses. The
lack of resources on campus also hinders the ability for professors to prepare
deliver their material. Without having department heads in Barrie it makes it
difficult for both students and faculty to have input on what the course offerings are.
Faculty also has to deal with two different sets of administration when submitting
course offerings for approval and must know the proper policies and procedures for
both institutions. The shared-delivery model makes it difficult for academic advisors
to guide students to the proper course selections because most of the academic
advisors do not know how to council for double majors or for courses offered
through ENVISION. Faculty is hired from two different institutions and this
segregates some of the programs and faculty because they are responding to two
different employers. Not only does the shared-delivery model hinder the student
experience it also makes the jobs of faculty much more difficult on a day-to-day
basis.
Extra curricular activities are a key aspect of the university experience
and are another one of the challenges associated with the shared delivery model.
University students create organizations and clubs at every university campus.
This has been a challenge with Georgian College administration. The college
and university systems are very different in their approaches to education and
administration. Permanent administrators at the college run the student groups at
Georgian College and in universities students run the student groups independently
from the university administration. This has made organizing a student union a
continuous struggle. Even with a student union on campus the Georgian College
administration has made it extremely difficult to organize events on campus.
The administration has also made it difficult to advertise for events that are put
on for the Laurentian students in Barrie. They will not allow posting of flyers on
campus and will not allow access to student email lists. Overall, the amount of extra
curricular activity that students experience is hindered because of the shareddelivery model.
Finally the information technology offered to Laurentian students in Barrie
is confusing because of the partnership between Georgian College and Laurentian
University. Students are presented with two different student number and cards.
This trend continues with computer requirements for students in Barrie. Students
are required to learn to use both banner and web advisor both with different
usernames and passwords. Students are also required to use both Georgian and
Laurentian email addresses with different login names and passwords. Finally
students are also required to learn how to navigate both Blackboard and D2L with
different usernames and passwords. In sum, the partnership between Georgian and
Laurentian has created twice the amount of work for students when learning the IT
requirements for their educational experience.
This government promised in the last election three new University
campuses in the province this is exemplified in the following quotation: “build three
new, leading-edge undergraduate campuses”. None of these three new Universities
have taken root and there has not even been a plan presented to move towards
this goal. Laurentian University and the City of Barrie have already put together
a strategic plan for the construction of a University campus in Barrie. Not only do
they have a plan to build a University they have also each agreed to put forward
fourteen million dollars. Laurentian and the City of Barrie both await confirmation
and financial assistance from the provincial government to move forward on this
project. The Toronto Star has even named Laurentian in Barrie as one of the three
universities that will be built in the province.
Altogether this letter is a cry from the students for the provincial government to
take action and help improve the overall educational experience of Laurentian
students in Barrie. The partnership between the two institutions may be
conveniently located and may be financially beneficial to the partners but the
educational experience of students is far from par with other institutions. Students
pay the same tuition fees as those in Sudbury and pay higher ancillary fees but yet
receive a poorer quality of education than those that go to Laurentian in Sudbury.
This is unacceptable and these issues require immediate attention. The solution to
all concerns of university students in Barrie would be an independent university
campus. Until that is a reality the students in Barrie will suffer with an unacceptable
standard of educational delivery.