“We're No. 1 (again!)” reads the headline of the Fall 2000 publication of Humber Today. This is a statement that will likely not be echoed again for a while as Humber slowly slips behind other Colleges in Canada.
Humber College was above average in the province in every category; graduate employment, graduate satisfaction, employer satisfaction and student satisfaction in back-to-back years. A quarter century later, Humber was rebranded as a polytechnic.
Humber Polytechnic president and CEO Dr. Ann Marie Vaughan announced the change on Aug 29 stating that Humber is moving to be a leader in productivity with aims to lead Ontario, Canada and the World in polytechnical education.
Before one looks into how Humber has grown and developed over the past 2 years under Vaughan we should consider who currently is the front-running polytechnic in Canada and what the student population of Canada is like, as funding is given to institutions based on enrolment.
Saskatchewan Polytechnic ranked 9th in Re$earch InfoSource Inc.’s 2023 Top 50 Research Colleges list, 6 places above Humber, making them the highest-ranked polytechnic. This sets the hurdle to jump if Humber wants to lead Canada.
Humber and Saskatchewan have the least amount of money spent per researcher among the top 15, with Saskatchewan spending just over double what Humber spends.
Saskatchewan’s student base has grown by over 2,000 Full Time Equivalent students between 2022 and 2023 while Humber’s has lost 2,050 Full Time Equivalent students between 2023 and 2024, losing a total of 5,648 since 2018.
This also concerns Humber as its golden age came with growth within its student body.
Between 2000 and 2011, the total postsecondary student body in Canada grew from 1.44 million to 2 Million; since then, it has only grown to 2.19 Million. Humber is losing ground on the stagnant student body market and, with that, funding.
While Humber has done a lot in research and productivity with a shoestring budget compared to others within its rank, the dollar stops somewhere.
Pessimistic attitudes alone will not solve these issues that Humber is facing, and neither will an optimism that shakes things up without actually addressing the haemorrhaging student body and issues that have come with it.
Humber stated in a press release published on August 29 “credits students for learning inside and outside of the classroom, ensuring all learners, no matter where they are in their journey, will have the access and support they need to build lifelong employability.”
A good step, but usually the true splitter of whether or not you support something is also the main question for homicide cases tried in Texas; execution.
I do not see an institution that is innovative enough to pull off this move and neither do the students passing over Humber to go to other schools.
Humber’s Media Relations and External Communications were reached out to but did not respond.
A lack of innovation and continued failures to match other schools; levels as Humber once had done will not only cause Vaughan to be the first president of the now Humber Polytechnic to not be remembered fondly but also make it so it’ll be a long time before Humber is saying “We're No. 1 (again!)” again.
