Victoria Nicolaou from the St. Catharines Standard interviewed NC President Sean Kennedy about the federal government’s recent budget and its implications for NC, including international student policy, applied research funding and upcoming capital priorities.
Kennedy noted that NC still has room for international enrolment growth but emphasized the need for government to restore equal access to postgraduate work permits, saying current limits “will hurt regional economies, including Niagara.”
He also highlighted the importance of federal support for applied research. The article notes that NC ranks as Canada’s top research college, with more than $40 million in research funding in 2024, yet the budget did little to address college-based research capacity.
Kennedy also focused on positive aspects of the budget, including Ottawa’s newly introduced Build Communities Strong Fund, which could help NC advance priority infrastructure projects. The fund may support the College’s Allied Health expansion in Welland, adding 800 new seats in nursing, PSW, dental, paramedic and other high-demand health programs. With a wait-list of about 900 domestic students and 800-900 jobs waiting for graduates, Kennedy said the expansion is essential to meeting local workforce needs.
“We need to be able to expand programs where there’s strong domestic student demand and strong employer demand within Niagara… but we need that infrastructure funding,” he said. “To see that as a possibility is something we’re optimistic about.”
Kennedy also noted NC’s domestic enrollment growth: “We are one of the fastest-growing colleges in Ontario when it comes to domestic enrolment, and we just came off our largest fall open house. We were thrilled with the turnout — over 3,000 people visit.”
Read the November 18 article here.
