Published on February 23, 2016 | by Christopher Coletta Photography by Anne Phitsanoukanh
0Guelph-Humber looks forward to expansion opportunity
The University of Guelph-Humber is planning for a possible expansion to Brampton, Ont., though the decision is still up in the air.
Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey announced in March 2015 the formation of a University Blue Ribbon Exploratory Panel to look into establishing the city’s first local university.
The panel came together after the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities created an opportunity for communities in Halton and Peel regions to lobby for a university campus. The panel’s role is to provide the mayor and city council with a realistic plan to establish a university campus in Brampton.
The University Blue Ribbon Exploratory Panel co-chairman, Jaipaul Massey-Singh, said they put out a notice to all universities in Ontario about this possibility with a number of schools getting back to them, including Guelph-Humber.
The vice-provost of Guelph-Humber, Dr. John Walsh, confirmed there was a meeting on Feb. 3 with the university to discuss the expansion.
“We’re still actively interested,” he said. “We have a lot to put on the table.”
Massey-Singh said the panel is looking for three things: does the school fit into the city’s vision, does the school actually want to be there and do they meet the province’s criteria.
“We need to find a partner that not just fits what the vision of the community is, but also who is going to be successful to this process,” Massey-Singh said.
Walsh said he believes Guelph-Humber qualifies for the criteria.
“We have a lot to offer in the Brampton area. We have a lot of students from Brampton, as well as industry partners in the city,” Walsh said. “The kind of programming we do is very applied, but with an honours degree and a diploma we are very attractive to them.”
With this expansion, Walsh said he wants to strengthen areas such as health care and entrepreneurship. Although Guelph-Humber already offers Kinesiology and Business programs, Walsh said he would willingly expand them.
Lauren Bowden, a third-year business student at Guelph-Humber, said she wished the school expanded earlier. “I would definitely apply to the entrepreneurship program if I wasn’t already in the business program,” she said. “I think it would be better to be in a more specialized form of business.”
Although there are other universities the city of Brampton is interested in, Massey-Singh said those details are confidential. He said in the next few weeks the ministry will elaborate on what they are looking for and the panel will move forward with selecting universities.
“At that point we’ll be able to narrow it down to one or at least a couple schools,” Massey-Singh said.
If the proposal goes through, Massey-Singh said he expects the university expansion to be complete by 2020.
An executive meeting between the panel and Guelph-Humber is set to take place on Apr. 18.
About the Author
Christopher Coletta is a journalism student who dreams of hosting his own talk show. He enjoys cats, Ariana Grande and his favourite movie is Mean Girls; however, he assures he's not basic.
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