Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

NWP

Music program suspended at NWP, but enrollment growing in other programs

Apr 14, 2023 | 6:00 AM

The president of Northwestern Polytechnic says it was a difficult decision to suspend the school’s music program.

Justin Kohlman says a number of things were considered.

“In spite of increased marketing and recruitment efforts, we had no applicants for September. This is part of a larger trend where we’ve seen declining enrollments not just this year but for the last number of years, going back before COVID.”

Kohlman says demand for music programs has been declining across Canada for at least five years, maybe longer.

“Without student demand, we can’t keep running it,” he says.

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There were social media rumours about the cross country and track and field teams also being cut. Kohlman says that is not true and there are no changes to those programs and no other cuts are coming.

At the same time, other areas are expanding.

Kohlman says in the last year, NWP has added two new degrees plus new programs in the trades and healthcare.

“We’ve actually seen the first year-over-year growth since 2014 at this institution, so overall, our numbers are going up. It’s just in very specific programs where demand is going down that we have had to make some difficult decisions.”

Kohlman adds eight new micro-credential programs have also been added in the last year.

“We’ve added engineering in this last year, and we’ve seen really good demand for not just this year but the upcoming year,” he notes.

” I can’t remember the exact number, but I think it’s more than 60 healthcare spots we’ve added, so there’s quite a bit of growth across a wide range of programs here.”

The province announced Thursday there is money in the new provincial budget to add 80 spots in the Practical Nurse program at Northwestern Polytechnic and to add another 48 spots in the Primary Care Paramedic program.

Kohlman says there are 38 applicants for the engineering program for this September and most healthcare programs are at or near capacity.

He adds NWP is always looking at the courses and programs it offers and decisions to make them bigger or smaller depends on demand from industry and students.