Carleton is wandering down a “slippery slope of privatization” by signing an agreement with CultureWorks, a private ESL school for international students, according to staff association member Patrizia Gentile.
Students will come to Carleton for one year of English classes provided by CultureWorks teachers, then register as undergraduates, Carleton’s vice-president (finance) Duncan Watt told the university senate in April, according to meeting minutes.
“Carleton students benefit greatly by having international students on campus as it increases the cultural diversity of the student body, and exposes all students to new and different perspectives,” provost and vice-president (academic) Peter Ricketts said via email.
“The agreement with CultureWorks is but one way that we are taking positive steps to increase international enrollments in a careful and controlled manner,” he said.
CultureWorks promises students conditional acceptance to their partner university when they sign up for the program, according to the CultureWorks website.
CultureWorks does not offer courses for university credit, and only accepts students who meet Carleton’s academic admission standards, CultureWorks communications director Christina Nurse said via email.
In addition to meeting Carleton’s academic admission average, the students have to successfully complete the CultureWorks program on campus, and write a standardized English test before beginning first year at Carleton, Nurse said.
Last year, Carleton rejected a similar proposal by Navitas, a private company that also does international recruitment for public universities, said Graduate Students’ Association vice-president (finance) Elizabeth Whyte.
The Working Group on International Recruitment, which was struck to make a recommendation on Navitas’ proposal, found the proposal inappropriate for Carleton. This time around, administration made the agreement without asking for a recommendation, Whyte said.
An actual copy of the contract has not been made available, she added.
Ricketts said via email that the agreement is confidential.
He said that the agreement with CultureWorks is “very different” from the Navitas proposal.
Navitas offered for-credit ESL courses alongside first year credits and admitted students to their second year of their university program, rather than delivering ESL courses without credits and admitting students to first year, Ricketts explained.
The new agreement completely disrespects Carleton’s values as a public-access university, Gentile said.
“It’s one thing when the university signs a contract with Second Cup or Starbucks, because they’re not about education but renting the space of a public university to a private educator – that’s different,” she said.
Students could use the space that’s being given up to CultureWorks, Gentile said.
Carleton already rents out space to external organizations, so this “will not place any strain on us,” Watt told the university senate.
The senate is giving up a portion of their accountability and control over the treatment of the ESL students, Whyte said.
“I’m concerned these students will become second-class citizens on campus,” she said.
They will not be members of CUSA or GSA, so these organizations will either have to stretch their resources or witness a kind of segregation between CultureWorks and Carleton students, Whyte said.
“Will we just say, ‘Fend for yourselves, but thanks for the money’?” she asked.
The university has not provided a plan for support services for these students, Gentile said.
Ricketts said CultureWorks may discuss the possibility of their students accessing certain services, but these discussions have not yet taken place.
When asked about student life and Carleton’s responsibility for CultureWorks students, the chair told Senate that the answers to those questions were yet to be determined.
