Algonquin College announced Feb. 11 it would open two more campuses in Saudi Arabia, adding to its male-only campus in the region, which it acquired in July 2013.
The college was awarded both a female and male campus in Qatif, Saudi Arabia that it will operate until 2019.
Algonquin spokesperson Phil Gaudreau said the college’s successful bid for these campuses would “spread the Algonquin brand, Canadian education, and Canadian values around the world.”
Algonquin was one of two Ontario colleges chosen to participate in Saudi Arabia’s second wave of its college expansion.
The country announced in 2011 it would invest $1 billion to improve its college system, inviting international education to bid for technical and vocational training college campuses across Saudi Arabia, according to Algonquin’s press release. Algonquin was one of 120 bidders this round, it stated.
Gaudreau said the school would benefit financially from these international campuses.
“The Ontario college system is the least funded post-secondary education system in Canada,” he said. “Since the government has a large amount of debt, the funding provided to colleges is not increasing.”
Jack Wilson, vice-president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union local 415, which represents Algonquin faculty, criticized the school’s presence in Saudi Arabia. He said women do not enjoy the same freedom as their male counterparts.
“They cannot drive, they cannot leave the house without the accompaniment of a male relative, and they are still subjected to their husbands in decision making,” Wilson said.
He said having separate male and female campuses “reinforces gender apartheid.”
“In Canada, we would never approve of segregation of people in terms of gender, race, or age,” Wilson said.
But Gaudreau said the presence of equal male and female campuses in the country gives women an equal opportunity for education.
He said the school aims to influence change through the means of education. Before starting their diploma, students are required to take a one-year preparatory program, which includes learning English and developing essential employability skills.
“Male students are given an opportunity to take courses pertaining to trade, business, and technology and learn skills that will help them succeed in the oil and gas industry,” Gaudreau said.
“Female students on the other hand, will be taking courses like business, technology, hospitality, food production, and fashion.”
Wilson said these courses ignore “human rights and law or anything that would have you consider and challenge the status quo of the political dynamics of the regime.”
“This training is going to lead to no change in society in terms of democratic value,” Wilson said. “People might become financially better off but that’s not the issue.”
