Algonquin College in Canada has become the latest education provider to withdraw from Saudi Arabia’s Colleges of Excellence skills training initiative.
In a statement released last week, the college confirmed that it will take steps to transfer operations at its Jazen Campus back to COE at a cost of $4.3m.
The college is closing the all-male campus because it didn’t meet expected financial outcomes, Algonquin College president Cheryl Jensen said.
“After more than a year of negotiation, we were unable to come to an agreement that would have met our financial objectives,” said Jensen.
“We have said from the beginning that the Jazan Campus must be financially viable for us to continue operating.”
The autumn term was expected to begin September 18.
“We have said from the beginning that the Jazan Campus must be financially viable for us to continue operating”
COE’s employer relations specialist, Adnan Alyousef, told The PIE News that in the case of a college closure, “COE supported by TVTC provide trainees with the appropriate accommodations such as being immediately enrolled in a neighboring college and the transfer of their credit hours.”
The college signed a five-year agreement to open the Jazen campus in 2013 with the expectation that it would eventually enrol between 2,000 and 2,800 students on business, marketing, accounting and engineering programmes.
According to a press release at the time, the college expected the campus’s revenue stream to exceed $100m over the course of the five years at full enrolment.
Once fully operational, Algonquin hoped to add the campus to its other overseas locations in Kuwait, China, India and Montenegro.
In 2009, Algonquin College was among several education providers from around the world that bid for partnership contracts with the Colleges of Excellence, an agency founded to meet local labour-market skills gaps through foreign vocational training.
According to its website, it has forged partnerships with 14 international providers including Niagara College in Canada, Gems Education Solutions and GIZ in Germany.
Several UK-based colleges also won contracts with the COE but have reported similar challenges in making expected profits.
Earlier this year, UK-based Lincoln College closed two of the three campuses it operated under Lincoln College International.
“Revenues from other non-funded operations will offset any losses incurred by our Jazan campus”
In March, the college announced it would close its two schools in Al Aflaj because they were “underperforming, largely due to the recruitment challenges associated with their rural location” said a spokesperson at the time.
LCI’s female college in Al Qatief remains open.
Doug Wotherspoon, vice-president of international and strategic planning at Algonquin College underlined that it would not use taxpayer dollars to complete the transition.
“International operations at the college are not funded by the provincial government,” he said. “I think it’s important that taxpayers understand that revenues from other non-funded operations will offset any losses incurred by our Jazan campus.”
He added that there will be no implications for Algonquin College’s employees and operations in Canada.
“Our goal is to work with Colleges of Excellence to ensure a smooth transition. We want to provide Colleges of Excellence time to accommodate students’ needs before we fully withdraw from the campus.”
