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Algonquin College has agreed to spend another $2.9 million for the final costs associated with the controversial men’s college it ran in Saudi Arabia.
The college’s board of governors approved that amount Monday to settle the “final transition and wind up costs” of the money-losing campus in Jazan.
When Algonquin announced it was backing out of Jazan in the summer of 2016, the estimated losses stood at $5.8 million.
It appears that the total loss, then, is around $8.7 million. That amount was confirmed by Algonquin officials at the meeting Monday, said Jack Wilson, the vice-president of the faculty union.
The extra $2.9-million expenditure was “certainly an unwelcome surprise,” said Wilson, who was at the meeting.
Algonquin College president Cheryl Jensen would not give interviews on the matter Tuesday.
“This marks the last chapter in our involvement in Saudi Arabia and means all outstanding claims will not be settled,” she said in a statement.
The Saudi Colleges of Excellence must still confirm the final settlement, according to Jensen’s statement.
That’s the agency that invited foreign colleges to set up technical schools in the Middle Eastern kingdom.
Ontario citizens should be outraged by the Saudi campus “debacle,” said Wilson, who was a leading critic of the Jazan campus.
“It would not be unreasonable for the government of Ontario to investigate why due diligence was not done by the college before it committed to operating in a country where basic human rights are so problematic and corruption is so endemic.”
Algonquin College Jazan was supposed to earn millions that could be plowed back into enriching programs back home. But the dream of Algonquin’s becoming a “global leader” in exporting technical education overseas began to crash not long after the Jazan campus opened in a poor, rural area of Saudi Arabia in 2013.
Students who arrived at the campus had trouble with basic English and math, and some were illiterate in their own language. Most were not prepared to take college courses. Many dropped out or failed to attend classes, a major problem since the contract with the Saudis linked payment to attendance rates.
Doug Wotherspoon, the Algonquin manager responsible for international programs, has acknowledged the college did not do its “due diligence” about conditions in Saudi Arabia before opening the campus.
Changes were made at the campus, but they weren’t enough to stem the losses.
“We’re following the entrepreneurial creed, which is to be bold, be innovative, be courageous, but when it doesn’t work, move on,” Wotherspoon said when Algonquin announced it was pulling out of Jazan.
Algonquin was also criticized for operating a men-only college in a repressive country with a record of jailing and torturing political opponents and restricting where women can work, travel, and study.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said it was unacceptable that programs at an Ontario-run college weren’t offered to women. Algonquin officials said they were trying to help improve the situation in Saudi Arabia by engaging with the country rather than isolating it. Algonquin had planned to open a women-only college there, too, but that didn’t work out.
“No public funds have been or will be used to offset the losses associated with the wind-up costs” at Jazan,” Jensen’s statement said. The statement offered no clarification, but last year college officials said the estimated $5.8-million loss would be covered by “contingency funds,” mainly from the college’s international department, and not taken from tuitions or operational funds provided by the provincial government.
By the numbers: Algonquin College Jazan
$19.9 million: Projected profit from Jazan over the five-year contract with the Saudis, according to a report provided to the Algonquin board of directors in the fall of 2013
$4.668 million: The revised projected profit from Jazan over the five-year contract, according to a report provided to the Algonquin board of directors in the fall of 2014
$4.4 million: The revised projected profit from Jazan over the five-year contract, according to a report provided to the Algonquin board of directors in December 2015
$5.8 million: The loss incurred by Algonquin College over its Jazan campus, as estimated in August 2016 when the college announced it was backing out of Saudi Arabia
$2.9 million: The expenditure approved Monday by the Algonquin board of governors to settle the final wind-up costs of the Jazan campus.
jmiller@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
The college’s board of governors approved that amount Monday to settle the “final transition and wind up costs” of the money-losing campus in Jazan.
When Algonquin announced it was backing out of Jazan in the summer of 2016, the estimated losses stood at $5.8 million.
It appears that the total loss, then, is around $8.7 million. That amount was confirmed by Algonquin officials at the meeting Monday, said Jack Wilson, the vice-president of the faculty union.
The extra $2.9-million expenditure was “certainly an unwelcome surprise,” said Wilson, who was at the meeting.
Algonquin College president Cheryl Jensen would not give interviews on the matter Tuesday.
“This marks the last chapter in our involvement in Saudi Arabia and means all outstanding claims will not be settled,” she said in a statement.
The Saudi Colleges of Excellence must still confirm the final settlement, according to Jensen’s statement.
That’s the agency that invited foreign colleges to set up technical schools in the Middle Eastern kingdom.
Ontario citizens should be outraged by the Saudi campus “debacle,” said Wilson, who was a leading critic of the Jazan campus.
“It would not be unreasonable for the government of Ontario to investigate why due diligence was not done by the college before it committed to operating in a country where basic human rights are so problematic and corruption is so endemic.”
Algonquin College Jazan was supposed to earn millions that could be plowed back into enriching programs back home. But the dream of Algonquin’s becoming a “global leader” in exporting technical education overseas began to crash not long after the Jazan campus opened in a poor, rural area of Saudi Arabia in 2013.
Students who arrived at the campus had trouble with basic English and math, and some were illiterate in their own language. Most were not prepared to take college courses. Many dropped out or failed to attend classes, a major problem since the contract with the Saudis linked payment to attendance rates.
Doug Wotherspoon, the Algonquin manager responsible for international programs, has acknowledged the college did not do its “due diligence” about conditions in Saudi Arabia before opening the campus.
Changes were made at the campus, but they weren’t enough to stem the losses.
“We’re following the entrepreneurial creed, which is to be bold, be innovative, be courageous, but when it doesn’t work, move on,” Wotherspoon said when Algonquin announced it was pulling out of Jazan.
Algonquin was also criticized for operating a men-only college in a repressive country with a record of jailing and torturing political opponents and restricting where women can work, travel, and study.
Premier Kathleen Wynne said it was unacceptable that programs at an Ontario-run college weren’t offered to women. Algonquin officials said they were trying to help improve the situation in Saudi Arabia by engaging with the country rather than isolating it. Algonquin had planned to open a women-only college there, too, but that didn’t work out.
“No public funds have been or will be used to offset the losses associated with the wind-up costs” at Jazan,” Jensen’s statement said. The statement offered no clarification, but last year college officials said the estimated $5.8-million loss would be covered by “contingency funds,” mainly from the college’s international department, and not taken from tuitions or operational funds provided by the provincial government.
By the numbers: Algonquin College Jazan
$19.9 million: Projected profit from Jazan over the five-year contract with the Saudis, according to a report provided to the Algonquin board of directors in the fall of 2013
$4.668 million: The revised projected profit from Jazan over the five-year contract, according to a report provided to the Algonquin board of directors in the fall of 2014
$4.4 million: The revised projected profit from Jazan over the five-year contract, according to a report provided to the Algonquin board of directors in December 2015
$5.8 million: The loss incurred by Algonquin College over its Jazan campus, as estimated in August 2016 when the college announced it was backing out of Saudi Arabia
$2.9 million: The expenditure approved Monday by the Algonquin board of governors to settle the final wind-up costs of the Jazan campus.
jmiller@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JacquieAMiller
查看原文...
