News   Nov 15, 2024
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News   Nov 15, 2024
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News   Nov 15, 2024
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Ontario's Downtown University/College Expansion Plans

Someone on SSP’s London thread has said that Western is planning something big for central London and details are coming soon. Finally!
That would be great but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Western has had a plethora of "plans" for something big in downtown London for decades and yet nothing ever materializes. Western has always been a VERY poor member of the London community and seems to go out of it's way to be as antagonistic towards City Hall as humanely possible. This is in stark contrast to Fanshawe which has 2 small downtown campuses. I know the guy on SSP to whom you are referring and he said that rumour has it that Western would announce a big new investment in downtown London and that was in Jan/24 and we are nearly at May and still crickets from Western.

Western's announcements for a downtown campus have the same validity as Ottawa's announcements for HSR.............tons of studies, talking points, and grand plans but in the end, everyone knows it will never materialize.
 
If there ever was a city that needed a university, it's Sarnia. Sarnia/Lambton & Chatham/Kent have a combined population of 250,000 but are a glaring gap in Ontario's university options. The closest universities are Western & Windsor which are an hours drive from Chatham and 1 1/2 from Sarnia to Windsor. and an hour to Western. Both have colleges but they obviously don't have the professional options of universities. In CK there is a University of Guelph campus in Ridgetown {about 550 F/T students in a town of 3,000} but it is very specific to agriculture and veterinary sciences so it's not an option for 90% of students.

Even a MAJOR campus of Western in Sarnia would go a long way to filling this void. If there is another new university or large campus of an existing one built in Ontario, Sarnia should be at the top of the list. Both counties have a older demographic makeup and small wonder as going to university requires all the young people to leave and once they see the delights of bigger cities, meet new friends or a partner, do their schooling with potentially an -the-job training portion, and create a professional/social network of professionals in that city in their field of study, it's very hard getting them back.
 
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If there ever was a city that needed a university, it's Sarnia. Sarnia/Lambton & Chatham/Kent have a combined population of 250,000 but are a glaring gap in Ontario's university options. The closest universities are Western & Windsor which are an hours drive from Chatham and 1 1/2 from Sarnia to Windsor. and an hour to Western. Both have colleges but they obviously don't have the professional options of universities. In CK there is a University of Guelph campus in Ridgetown {about 550 F/T students in a town of 3,000} but it is very specific to agriculture and veterinary sciences so it's not an option for 90% of students.

Even a MAJOR campus of Western in Sarnia would go a long way to filling this void. If there is another new university or large campus of an existing one built in Ontario, Sarnia should be at the top of the list. Both counties have a older demographic makeup and small wonder as going to university requires all the young people to leave and once they see the delights of bigger cities, meet new friends or a partner, do their schooling with potentially an -the-job training portion, and create a professional/social network of professionals in that city in their field of study, it's very hard getting them back.

No, Sarnia does not need a university. Lambton College has so much trouble attracting students in the area that they’re one of the most dependent on international students with Toronto private college partnerships.

Anyway, Chatham is more aligned with Windsor and London than it is with Sarnia.
 
Barrie needs a university campus if you ask me. Something that will bring more life to the city than sleazy nightclubs and chain restaurants. It would also have a more populous catchment area than Sarnia, with the explosive growth in Simcoe County and northern York Region.
Would it support a full-fledged University of Barrie? No. But I would definitely support Lakehead expanding operations into a stand-alone facility in the Barrie/Innisfil area.
 
Barrie needs a university campus if you ask me. Something that will bring more life to the city than sleazy nightclubs and chain restaurants. It would also have a more populous catchment area than Sarnia, with the explosive growth in Simcoe County and northern York Region.
Would it support a full-fledged University of Barrie? No. But I would definitely support Lakehead expanding operations into a stand-alone facility in the Barrie/Innisfil area.
Needs to be in downtown Barrie only.
 
I agree, Barrie needs a university campus but unlike Sarnia/Lambton or Chatham/Kent, people in Barrie have options. There is all day GO service that they can take to get right York or UT or Ryerson {I refuse to call it the stupid name it has now and ditto for Dundas Square} so they have access to several universities while people of SL/CK don't. Anyone wanting to go to university basically requires these young people to leave and once they do, most won't come back.
 
Mohawk has announced a campus somewhere in Burlington so let’s hope that it is near either a GO station or downtown.

There is an unused/underutilized former High School on a large chunk of city owned land (and not the new Brock University Campus) on New Street that would be a good site in my mind. Currently Route 10 goes right past the site and connects with Burlington and Fairview Go as well as the downtown transit node (so HSR) and Oakville Transit to the east. (Brock is also on New Street and shares the same transit connections) Hopefully they will not repeat the mistake of currently located on the South Service Road - the Ron Joyce Mcmaster Center.
 
The University of Windsor is building a new residence with café and food store in downtown Windsor. Slow and steady!

 
Barrie needs a university campus if you ask me. Something that will bring more life to the city than sleazy nightclubs and chain restaurants. It would also have a more populous catchment area than Sarnia, with the explosive growth in Simcoe County and northern York Region.
Would it support a full-fledged University of Barrie? No. But I would definitely support Lakehead expanding operations into a stand-alone facility in the Barrie/Innisfil area.
Lakehead already has an Orillia campus though that they are slowly growing. I don't see them being a contender for coming to Barrie.

But I agree that a satellite of something else would certainly breathe more life into Barrie. I don't know much about McMaster- do they just have the one campus in Hamilton?
 
There is a building for Trent in downtown Oshawa but I don’t know if it is new.

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