rdaner
Senior Member
Wilfrid Laurier University plans new campus in Milton, Ont.
ELIZABETH CHURCH
EDUCATION REPORTER
April 1, 2008
Wilfrid Laurier University, eager to make the most of the expected skyrocketing demand for higher education in the Toronto area, is working with the booming community of Milton, Ont., to put a full-sized campus in what are now farmers' fields.
Plans for the creation of an "education village" on 60 hectares of undeveloped land were presented to Milton Council last night. The report did not name Laurier as the partner, but the university confirmed to The Globe and Mail late yesterday that it has signed an agreement with the city to explore options.
"The growth in the [Greater Toronto Area] in terms of university-age students certainly makes it clear that we need to respond in terms of building capacity," said Max Blouw, president of the university based in Waterloo.
"Laurier does have successful experience in establishing satellite campuses ...We know how to do this and we have done it reasonably well."
The Laurier campus proposal is the first major expansion plan put forward in response to predictions of a huge jump in demand for university spaces in the Toronto area. Forecasts estimate that between 40,000 and 75,000 new spaces will need to be created in the coming decade.
That swell of demand is in sharp contrast to other parts of the country and regions of the province where enrolment is expected to remain steady or decline.
The growth in Toronto is fuelled by a burgeoning urban, increasingly immigrant population likely to encourage their children to go on to higher education.
Laurier, which has about 15,000 undergraduate students, has undergone a rapid expansion in the past decade, opening a satellite campus in Brantford and relocating its school of social work to a new site in downtown Kitchener. It is currently developing a plan for for the next 30 years.
Dr. Blouw said the Milton proposal would allow the university to expand without losing its small-campus atmosphere. He said there is little room to grow on the landlocked Waterloo site."The population pressure in the GTA is very significant and it is moving westward," Dr. Blouw said. "Queen's Park needs to address the population pressure for university seats. This will be one more thing to throw in the mix for consideration."
ELIZABETH CHURCH
EDUCATION REPORTER
April 1, 2008
Wilfrid Laurier University, eager to make the most of the expected skyrocketing demand for higher education in the Toronto area, is working with the booming community of Milton, Ont., to put a full-sized campus in what are now farmers' fields.
Plans for the creation of an "education village" on 60 hectares of undeveloped land were presented to Milton Council last night. The report did not name Laurier as the partner, but the university confirmed to The Globe and Mail late yesterday that it has signed an agreement with the city to explore options.
"The growth in the [Greater Toronto Area] in terms of university-age students certainly makes it clear that we need to respond in terms of building capacity," said Max Blouw, president of the university based in Waterloo.
"Laurier does have successful experience in establishing satellite campuses ...We know how to do this and we have done it reasonably well."
The Laurier campus proposal is the first major expansion plan put forward in response to predictions of a huge jump in demand for university spaces in the Toronto area. Forecasts estimate that between 40,000 and 75,000 new spaces will need to be created in the coming decade.
That swell of demand is in sharp contrast to other parts of the country and regions of the province where enrolment is expected to remain steady or decline.
The growth in Toronto is fuelled by a burgeoning urban, increasingly immigrant population likely to encourage their children to go on to higher education.
Laurier, which has about 15,000 undergraduate students, has undergone a rapid expansion in the past decade, opening a satellite campus in Brantford and relocating its school of social work to a new site in downtown Kitchener. It is currently developing a plan for for the next 30 years.
Dr. Blouw said the Milton proposal would allow the university to expand without losing its small-campus atmosphere. He said there is little room to grow on the landlocked Waterloo site."The population pressure in the GTA is very significant and it is moving westward," Dr. Blouw said. "Queen's Park needs to address the population pressure for university seats. This will be one more thing to throw in the mix for consideration."