{"id":26805,"date":"2020-12-08T10:04:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=26805"},"modified":"2020-12-11T11:10:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T16:10:41","slug":"mt-a-updates-council-on-enrolment-january-return-of-students-and-plans-for-r-p-bell-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/mt-a-updates-council-on-enrolment-january-return-of-students-and-plans-for-r-p-bell-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Mt. A updates council on enrolment, January return of students, and plans for R. P. Bell Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Monday\u2019s Sackville town council special meeting, councillors heard from Mount Allison Vice President of Finance and Administration Robert Inglis, giving an update on university operations.<\/p>\n

Inglis shared Mount Allison\u2019s enrolment numbers for the fall, which were much higher than predicted this summer.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mount Allison fall 2020 enrolment numbers, from a presentation by Robert Inglis to Sackville town council, December 7, 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

That is a theme across all Atlantic universities said Inglis, referring to data collected by the Association of Atlantic Universities. \u201cThe numbers are sort of all over the place,\u201d he said. \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Enrolment distribution for Mount Allison, Fall 2020, presenting by Robert Inglis to Sackville town council, December 7, 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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. \u201cI think a lot of students wanted to go to university and perhaps they realized they didn\u2019t want to travel.\u201d On the flip side of that coin, there were decreases in enrolments from other parts of Canada, for a similar reason, said Inglis.<\/p>\n

International enrolment is about the same as last year, said Inglis, thanks to, \u201ca lot of hard work to build this up by the recruiting team over the last few years,\u201d and a focus on recruiting international students who, \u201chappened to go to a high school in New Brunswick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

JANUARY RETURN DELAYED BY ONE EXTRA WEEK ONLINE<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Inglis took the time to explain changes to the university\u2019s protocol for returning to class in January after an extended winter break.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cprudent, given the current environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inglis said the university would be compensating students for costs associated with changing their travels plans.<\/p>\n

\n

BIG CHANGES AHEAD FOR R.P. BELL LIBRARY<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
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Image: mta.ca<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Inglis also told councillors about an upcoming engagement session looking for input on the future of the Ralph Pickard Bell Library.<\/p>\n

A virtual community town hall on what\u2019s being called Mount Allison\u2019s future \u201cLibrary\/Innovation Hub\/Learning Centre\u201d will take place Wednesday, December 9 from 7:00 \u2013 8:30 pm. Anyone in the campus and Sackville community is invited to join\u00a0on Microsoft Teams at this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re currently in a process called functional programming,\u201d said Inglis, \u201cwhich is about determining what functions go into that space.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Inglis and librarian Diane Keeping, along with others including Sackville town CAO Jamie Burke, \u201cwill be trying to engage with as many individuals as possible in the community about this project,\u201d said Inglis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the largest capital project\u2013contemplated, at least\u2013that the university has ever undertaken,\u201d says Inglis. \u201cIt is complicated, and but very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s not exciting because we\u2019re going to rejuvenate physical space,\u201d said Inglis. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting because it\u2019s an opportunity to imagine and to consider what can be done in that space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inglis referred to the new R.P. Bell interchangeably as a \u201clibrary and an \u201cinnovation centre\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe words in some ways are not as important to this as the meaning,\u201d said Inglis. \u201cWhat 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\u2026 So this is a significant project.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inglis indicated that the purpose of the new library may be broader than an academic library. \u201cWe can use that space to further foster activities that engage the entire community,\u201d said Inglis, \u201cnot just the traditional faculty and student academic community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Monday\u2019s 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\u2019s enrolment numbers for the fall, which were much higher than predicted this summer. Mount Allison fall 2020 enrolment numbers, from a presentation by Robert Inglis…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":26810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,219,221],"tags":[],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26805"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26805"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=26805"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=26805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}