(Credit: Eric Fry) Fanshawe's Broadcast Center
Two one-year graduate programs are being suspended for the 2024/2025 year at Fanshawe because of uncertainty over international student numbers. The Journalism – TV & Digital News program and the Advanced Photography programs have been put on hold for one year as the college reviews enrollment.
“That will be time for our management team to sit down and say hey, what do we want to do? What are we thinking?” Says Acting Associate Dean of the School of Media and Digital Arts Sarah Ruttan. “What is our future going to look like and then we’ll meet with our friends in reputation brand management, which is essentially our marketing team.”
Some students had already received their acceptance letter to the TV News program when they discovered its suspension.
“Could we have closed it earlier? Maybe.” says Ruttan. “Sometimes it takes a while for post-grad certs to fill up, but what I was monitoring were the numbers now compared to what they have been over the last five years.”
(Credit: Eric Fry) Set for the TV News Program
For TV News graduate Gracia Espinosa, the news of the program’s suspension was heartbreaking.
“For me, it was the point of no return to be the journalist that I want to be,” says Espinosa. “To know that this program is not going to be available for students the next academic year for one year for me it’s sad”
“I was so happy when I received the news that I will be a student of broadcasting and journalists in TV news and that I cannot imagine the people who have just received a notification that there are not enough students,” says Espinosa.
Ruttan said at least ten students would be needed to run the program.
The suspensions are for one year. Fanshawe says the programs are expected to return for the 2025-2026 school year.
