Conestoga College aims to end about 80 student programs while about 10 per cent of full-time faculty leave by choice or layoff amid plunging enrolment, detail new figures provided by the administration and by a faculty union.

Enrolment fell to 17,714 in the fall semester that began in September, the college said this week. That’s down 57 per cent from a peak of 40,726 students who enrolled in the fall of 2023.

The collapse is entirely in foreign enrolment, down 24,485 students (77 per cent) over two years as Canada slashes student permits to limit impacts on housing and other services.

The Kitchener-based college charges foreign students two to four times what Canadian students pay. In 2023, it led the nation in recruiting students from abroad, who accounted for almost 80 per cent of en

See Full Page