P.E.I.'s francophone college considering big move

Prince Edward Island's francophone college is considering closing its campus in Wellington and opening one in Summerside. 

Collège de l'Île has operated out of Wellington, in P.E.I.'s francophone Evangeline region, since it opened in 1993.

But college officials say the Charlottetown campus, which opened in 2012, is already at capacity, and a secondary campus in a more urban setting like Summerside would better suit students. 

College president Donald DesRoches said the board is considering a couple of options in Summerside, one a rental and one a new build.

He said international student enrolment is growing, and the majority of those students prefer to stay in Charlottetown where housing, jobs and transportation are more accessible. 

That's meant extra pressure on the Charlottetown campus, where there isn't enough room to accommodate all students, leaving some to learn remotely from home. 

"The international students find it very difficult here in Wellington," said DesRoches, raising two main concerns.

"One is that if they want to live in the Wellington region, housing is very difficult to find as it would be in most of Prince Edward Island. A second factor would be that most of the jobs that international students would be taking would be in businesses that would be in the city." 

DesRoches said the college must either expand its Charlottetown campus or open something new elsewhere.

He said Summerside, with its growing francophone population, greater availability of housing, work and transportation, and access to the Evangeline region for francophone on-the-job training, would be an ideal next move. 

He said even if the college does close its campus in Wellington, connections with the Evangeline region would be maintained to allow students to do work placements in a francophone setting. 

"We had surveyed students from Prince County, both French immersion and French first-language, to see if we were to have one campus in Prince County, where should it be?" said DesRoches. "And the clear choice of students in Prince County was Summerside, even for students from the Evangeline region."

He said currently of the almost 50 students enrolled locally in Collège de l'Île programs this year, only a handful are taking courses at the Wellington campus on average, less than one day per week. 

Commuting to Wellington from Charlottetown can be expensive and inconvenient for students, he said, and the main goal of a campus in Summerside would be to have space and services to accommodate more students in one secondary location.