St. Clair College main campus. (BlackburnNews.com 
file photo by Adelle Loiselle)St. Clair College main campus. (BlackburnNews.com file photo by Adelle Loiselle)
Chatham

Another enrolment record broken at St. Clair College

St. Clair College has hit another record enrolment mark.

According to college officials, enrolment stayed strong again this year by "a razor-thin margin." St. Clair said 12,817 full-time post-secondary students enrolled this fall compared to 12,815 a year ago. Overall, more than 13,200 students enrolled when part-time students are added. The number of domestic students totalled 7,552, which includes 1,227 at the Chatham campus.

"The good news story here is we have another record, although it’s almost on par with last year’s enrolment, which was a record,” said Associate Vice President, Student Services and Registrar Michael Silvaggi. “Year-over-year we are plus two students.”

Another 1,077 students were taking classes at the ACE Acumen Academy in Toronto, where St. Clair College programs are offered through a public-private partnership.

"From the institutional standpoint of the short-term stability and long-term sustainability of the College, I'm always encouraged to see strong enrolment numbers," said President Patti France.

France admitted the rising numbers are nice but noted that the college's faculty and staff remain focused on people.

"We're seeing the individual hopes and dreams of 13,000-plus students, and realizing that it is our duty to provide them with the knowledge and skills they need to achieve their ambitions," said France. "Regardless of our enrolment, we are re-energized every year to ensure that each of those individual quests meets with success."

The college added the downtown Windsor campus has seen a boost in enrolment with 2,836 new students taking courses in the School of Media, Art and Design, the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts and the Zekelman School of Business and IT. That's compared to just over 900 two years ago. General business programs and data analytics also had a huge increase.

The number of international students jumped by four per cent to a total of 4,188 students.

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