We, the undersigned, oppose any proposed partnership between Western University and for-profit “pathway college” Navitas. The future of our university is at stake! 

The senior administration at Western University is proposing to partner with a for-profit “pathway college” called Navitas (owned by Australian private equity firm BGH Capital) to open Western International College. Navitas' business model is to recruit international students to Canada who wouldn’t  otherwise qualify for admission. Students pay exorbitant tuition fees (approximately $50,000 CAD per year) for one or two year programs, and, once completed, are admitted to Western. Navitas would lease property from Western and pay out a percentage of its profits to Western.  

With this proposed partnership, Western is choosing to increase its reliance on international student tuition at a time when declining international student enrolment  is causing serious financial hardship for universities around the globe. They see Navitas as a sure-fire source of cash in a time of economic instability; in reality, Navitas is also unstable due to high costs, government visa restrictions, and unpredictable geopolitical shifts. 

The faculty and senators at Western soundly rejected a similar proposal only 5 years ago, fearing an increase in precariously employed faculty, the erosion of educational quality, and a "pay to play model" of education that outsources the university's core teaching mission  and recruitment efforts to a private company. Today, the proposal is slightly altered, but still raises all the same fears. 

We acknowledge Western's potential financial problems, but we object to the administration's narrow-minded approach to addressing them. Navitas is not the only answer. Instead, we encourage Western's administration to draw on the vast expertise and input of its faculty and students to look for different, long-term solutions, rather than jumping to a quick fix that undermines educational quality and university autonomy with no guarantee of success.