Well there had been murmings for a while but I was finally called into the head's office yesterday to be given official word that the course will be closing down. Apparently we don't make enough profit for the university and in this new model of education which is based on making money not providing service, any courses which aren't considered to have a long term future of generating profit are being closed down.
I estimate our course generates almost half a teachers salary in additional profit each year... for a small course of 40 students I think thats quite good... after all costs have already been accounted for... but not good enough it seems.
The university is currently trying to determine a finishing date. The powers that be tell me that they want to do "the right thing" by exisiting students and give them a chance to finish off. However the course is a minimum of 2 years full-time and most students only study part-time. The university is keen to close the course by the end of 2011 (so most students will have no hope of finishing on time). So what options will be available to these students? I assume they will be forced to study completely online through other institutions and most of our students chose our course because of the mix of intensive workshops and online work... they seem to appreciate the comradeship of face to face classes and they are a great group of people who I have really enjoyed getting to know.
Monday, July 12, 2010
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