At Monday’s Sackville town council special meeting, councillors heard from Mount Allison Vice President of Finance and Administration Robert Inglis, giving an update on university operations.

Inglis shared Mount Allison’s enrolment numbers for the fall, which were much higher than predicted this summer.

In fact, enrolment was up slightly over last year, with 2192 students registered. That was thanks to a large first year cohort from 2019, said Inglis. The 2020 first year class did drop a bit from 2019, with 651 first year students this year as opposed to 700 last year.

That is a theme across all Atlantic universities said Inglis, referring to data collected by the Association of Atlantic Universities. “The numbers are sort of all over the place,” he said. “But there are two common things. I believe every single university has had a decrease in their entering class, and every single University has an increase in the number of part time students.”

Inglis also shared the distribution of where students were from. There was an increase of those from New Brunswick, of about 5%, said Inglis, which was not a surprise. “I think a lot of students wanted to go to university and perhaps they realized they didn’t want to travel.” On the flip side of that coin, there were decreases in enrolments from other parts of Canada, for a similar reason, said Inglis.

International enrolment is about the same as last year, said Inglis, thanks to, “a lot of hard work to build this up by the recruiting team over the last few years,” and a focus on recruiting international students who, “happened to go to a high school in New Brunswick.”

JANUARY RETURN DELAYED BY ONE EXTRA WEEK ONLINE

Inglis took the time to explain changes to the university’s protocol for returning to class in January after an extended winter break.

As was recently announced in a letter to students, Mount Allison will remain in online-only classes for its first week, slated to begin on January 18. This means the return date for travelling students who are required to self-isolate on campus can get pushed by one week to January 8-9. It also means that New Brunswick students who are not required to self-isolate will be asked to remain home for one more week before returning to school on January 25.

Inglis said that in addition to a week of online classes helping fill a void for students who are self-isolating, the extra time before students are back in residence will be “prudent, given the current environment.”

Inglis said the university would be compensating students for costs associated with changing their travels plans.

BIG CHANGES AHEAD FOR R.P. BELL LIBRARY

Inglis also told councillors about an upcoming engagement session looking for input on the future of the Ralph Pickard Bell Library.

A virtual community town hall on what’s being called Mount Allison’s future “Library/Innovation Hub/Learning Centre” will take place Wednesday, December 9 from 7:00 – 8:30 pm. Anyone in the campus and Sackville community is invited to join on Microsoft Teams at this link.

“We’re currently in a process called functional programming,” said Inglis, “which is about determining what functions go into that space.”

On Wednesday, Inglis and librarian Diane Keeping, along with others including Sackville town CAO Jamie Burke, “will be trying to engage with as many individuals as possible in the community about this project,” said Inglis.

“This is the largest capital project–contemplated, at least–that the university has ever undertaken,” says Inglis. “It is complicated, and but very exciting.”

“And it’s not exciting because we’re going to rejuvenate physical space,” said Inglis. “It’s exciting because it’s an opportunity to imagine and to consider what can be done in that space.”

Inglis referred to the new R.P. Bell interchangeably as a “library and an “innovation centre”.

“The words in some ways are not as important to this as the meaning,” said Inglis. “What it is, is an opportunity. We hope to revitalize probably the most important space on campus in terms of the heart of the intellectual piece of campus… So this is a significant project.”

Inglis indicated that the purpose of the new library may be broader than an academic library. “We can use that space to further foster activities that engage the entire community,” said Inglis, “not just the traditional faculty and student academic community.”