Latest round of Sask. Polytechnic layoffs impacts 23 faculty members

Another round of layoffs at Saskatchewan Polytechnic will see nearly two dozen employees lose their jobs.

On Tuesday, the school released a statement saying 23 full-time and part-time employees have been issued layoff notices. That number stands to grow, however, with the post-secondary institution adding that “additional workforce adjustments may be required in the spring.”

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Sask. Polytechnic cited “significant challenges in the international education landscape,” which have impacted international and domestic recruitment, leading to shortfalls in its revenue.

According to Michelle Downton, president of the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Faculty Association, which represents the school’s instructional and non-instructional faculty, all of the impacted employees were faculty members.

Downton said the layoffs will affect employees at all four of the school’s campuses in Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert. She said some programs have been relocated, and those faculty members choosing not to move will be “severed from the organization.”

“We’re losing experience in our instructional faculty that have taught the program at one certain campus for years,” Downton said.

Enrolment numbers not the only issue

The latest layoffs could incite even more faculty losses. Downton said she faculty members are “fearing for their job and their sustainability in this tough economic time, and I see them wanting to revert back to industry, where it’s safe.”

Downton said the decision could cost Sask. Polytechnic some of its students at a time when the institution is already struggling with enrolment.

“Our students are going to have to relocate partway through their program, so if we’re doing that to people it gives less sense of organization, and maybe people will choose to go elsewhere,” Downton said, adding that prospective students might also reconsider enrolling after hearing about the cuts.

The impact of students choosing other schools has the potential to be felt across the province, with Downton noting that when students leave Saskatchewan for their education, they frequently don’t return.

Dwindling international recruitment was a factor in these recent cuts. The layoffs in Prince Albert are largely concentrated to its business school, Downton said, which once had a high proportion of international students. With the federal policy change on international student visas, recruitment dropped, meaning the same numbers of faculty members aren’t required.

But that’s not the only reason behind the layoffs, Downton said.

“I think they’re using it as a guise for some other financial struggles,” she said.

“We’ve seen a huge influx of out-of-scope administrative positions added to Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s leadership framework in the last 10 years, and frankly I think that contributes to the financial sustainability of the organization as well.”

More than 100 employees laid off last year

In October, the school said it had issued layoff notices to 87 full- and part-time employees, including faculty members, in the previous few months. That’s in addition to 14 out-of-scope employees who were laid off in the summer.

At the time, Sask. Polytechnic shared it was struggling with declining international student enrolment, saying it was “down approximately 40 per cent, creating a substantial revenue shortfall for the 2025-26 academic year.”

650 CKOM reached out to Sask. Polytechnic for more information on the latest round of layoffs, but a representative said in an email that the school “will not be participating in interviews.”