Carleton University may join several other Canadian universities by considering a partnership with Navitas, an organization specializing in teaching international students with low academic standing.
The private, for-profit Australian company already has programs at the University of Manitoba and British Columbia’s Simon Fraser University, as well as 19 other programs throughout the English-speaking world, according to the company’s website.
Programs have been in place at Simon Fraser since 2006 and the U of M since 2008, said Bev Hudson, general manager of university programs for Navitas Canada, via email.
She said Navitas establishes colleges for international students with marks too low for regular admission. For a year students have access to university resources and upon successful completion they are accepted into the university itself, she said.
The program is not without its controversies. According to Aisyah Abdkahar, vice-president (internal) of the University of Manitoba Student Association, nobody even knew the Navitas program at U of M, called the International College of Manitoba (ICM) was a possibility until after all the contracts had been signed.
“We were actually quite surprised because we didn’t know it was coming down the pipe,” Abdkahar said. “Everything was done behind closed doors.”
Abdkahar said when the student association got their hands on the contracts they were mostly blacked out, “so we still don’t know how much the university is getting from Navitas at all.”
The decision was kept so quiet that Cameron Morrill, the president of the University of Manitoba Faculty Association (UMFA), said he only found out when the ICM put an ad out for a principal.
“One of our association members noticed an advertisement for a principal for the International College of Manitoba . . . in the Globe and Mail in early December 2007.”
Hudson said ICM has brought about positive change. “Enrolments from international students have increased to partner universities,” she said. “It also provides an opportunity for international students to get a Canadian degree who otherwise may not have.”
Morrill said he doesn’t think so. “International student enrolment at U of M has dropped in recent years, even taking into account the students enrolled at Navitas,” he said.
There is an obvious financial incentive, he said. “U of M would receive a percentage of the tuition fees that these students were paying to the International College of Manitoba.”
Beyond money, Morrill said he sees no benefits, especially not for U of M students. “We hear that some of the best classrooms and laboratory facilities have been allocated to Navitas students and U of M students have had to make do with less well-equipped facilities,” he said.
“The senate was told that revoking the contract now that it was signed would be very costly to the university in both financial and reputational terms,” Morrill said.
However, when the contract is up in two years, he said the current president, [David Barnard], has said the university senate will be involved, but Morrill said he hopes the university will take into consideration faculty and students as well.
“We hope that he will also solicit impact from students, academics and other workers . . . and that this input will be given serious consideration.”
In an open letter from the Dalhousie Faculty Association to the Dalhousie University community in February 2010, faculty protested the idea of a contract with Navitas, pointing to the “very rocky beginning” at U of M.
“Navitas has . . . divided University of Manitoba departments, some of which elected not to co-operate in overseeing Navitas courses only to discover that the university administration circumvented them and allowed Navitas to offer their classes with instructors hired by Navitas,” the letter said.
“Many of us are concerned that the publicly-funded resources are being used to generate profits for a private company. It is troubling that U of M students must compete — often unsuccessfully, apparently — for classroom space with Navitas students,” Morrill said.
Abdkahar said she agreed. “I cannot see how a private institution can work with a publicly-funded institution,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a very good combination.”
Jason MacDonald, director of the department of university communications at Carleton, said via email that Carleton is “exploring the possibility of working with Navitas,” but that it is just one option.