Burns Lake council has decided to invite the College of New Caledonia (CNC) administration to a council meeting after learning that the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students and staff at the Lakes District campus has significantly declined in the past few years.
“I would like to hear from CNC how they plan to stop this slide because it’s definitely concerning me, and it’s concerning the community,” said councillor Michael Riis-Christianson.
The number of FTE students at the Lakes District campus in the 2016/17 academic year was 49 while the number of staff was 20. In the 2013/14, the Lakes District campus had 323 FTE students, and in 2012/13 it had 124 staff.
According to CNC, even though the number of FTE students and staff have significantly declined in the past few years, the Lakes District campus is seeing “record enrolment numbers” in its online and continuing education courses.
An independent impact assessment commissioned by the Village of Burns Lake in 2015 predicted that there would be 81 FTE students and 22 employees in the 2016/17 academic year at the Lake District campus.