2024 saw a lot of good for the College of New Caledonia, but the international student cutbacks could make life difficult for the College

By Tommy Osborne

CNC 2024

College of New Caledonia’s 2024 creates questions going forward, but optimism remains

Dec 30, 2024 | 4:25 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – 2024 was a busy year for the College of New Caledonia, as several new programs were instituted with great success. However, the federal government’s announcement that international students would be capped has raised some concerns over what the future holds for CNC going forward.

“There will be layoffs coming across all employee groups, so that means our management group, our faculty group, and our CUPE support and organizational support groups,” said CNC President Cindy Heitman.

“Our goal is to maintain as many positions as we can, yet ensuring we have the resources we need to offer high quality programing to students,” Heitman continued.

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30% of CNC’s students are international, and while the current international students will be able to finish their programs as planned, the following years will see a significant chunk of the international student population removed. Heitman explained this will result in a decline in revenue, meaning layoffs and program cuts will happen in the near future.

“We have to look at how we do our business and maybe make some changes, maybe look at the domestic recruitment, look at creating programs and opportunities to draw more students from from our regions, from our areas, from our country, to attend CNC,” Heitman said.

“It’s a bit of a pivot. We’ve had to look at some of our courses, we’ve had to change some of our strategies. But it’s how you choose to look at it. We can see it as the end of something, or we can see it as the beginning of something. And I think for our college community, we’re really looking at this as an opportunity for transformation, change, as we begin a new journey,” Heitman said.

2024 also brought a lot of positive developments and reasons for optimism for CNC, as Heitman explained the College has been hard at work finding ways to deliver the best experience possible for its students and increase domestic enrolment. One program that saw large success was the new TekX program, which Heitman says could help raise the domestic student count.

“We offered a program for high school aged students to attend the College and the university (University of Northern British Columbia), receiving both high school credit and post-secondary credits at a substantial amount, it’s hugely successful. We’ve created a framework and a model that we know works. How do we do more of that? How do we do that for our communities? So we’re hoping to see more of that,” Heitman said.

Heitman added CNC has put a large focus on engaging with Indigenous communities in the area, with the launch of the lhk’enazdulkat program being a highlight of the year.

“That plan has created a, a roadmap for us to not only Indigenize our curriculum, but to decolonize our College to ensure that we’re meeting the needs of Indigenous students,” Heitman said.

While making up for the loss of international students won’t be easy, Heitman hopes building on 2024’s successes, as well as continuing to innovate and find ways to improve the College’s programming and student experience, will be the story of 2025.

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