McMaster’s student population has taken off since 2000, and last year, the university hit its operating peak.
An unexpected surplus of students chose McMaster last summer – about 400 students above target – which meant that the university couldn’t accommodate every student who wanted and was eligible to live in residence. First years were offered $1000 to live off campus, plus priority placement in their second year.
Though last year’s large freshman cohort was a provincial blip, with a record-setting 90,000 first years entering universities across Ontario, rising enrolment numbers are a growing concern.
A campus capacity study based on data from 2008-2009 concluded that McMaster needed approximately 12 per cent more space than it had in order to support student enrolment.
As of 2009, residential facilities have the largest percentage of space on campus at 20.5 per cent, followed by academic departmental offices and research labs for faculty and graduate students. Classroom and library facilities comprise about 8.5 per cent each, and common-use student activity space covers 1.5 per cent.
Dean of Students and Associate Vice-President (Student Affairs) Phil Wood, who was on the study’s steering committee, said there is an ongoing effort to optimize the use of classroom facilities and to improve amenities such as wireless Internet access.
As McMaster’s student population grows, so does the need for more study space on campus.
In 2009, Thode Library’s third floor was renovated and became home to the iSci Program, and the following year, the fourth floor of Mills Library became the Lyons New Media Centre. While the renovations were good news to certain programs, they meant the loss of study space for the general student population.
In response to growing demand, the University administration and McMaster Students Union (MSU) have worked to secure more permanent study space and 24-hour access to Thode Library during exam time.
Current MSU president Siobhan Stewart has proposed an agreement to keep Bridges Café open longer during exam periods, beginning this December.
Vivian Lewis, Acting University Librarian, said the number of seats in libraries has increased dramatically from about 1,900 in 2004 to just over 2,900 in 2009. This past January, the entire book section on the second floor of Thode Library was moved to the basement, making way for 390 individual carrels in a new quiet study area.
“We’ve been investing a lot of time and intellectual labour into creating more seats for students,” said Lewis. “At the same time, we have to consider the quality of the work environment and the valuable collections we have in our libraries.”
Huzaifa Saeed, VP (Education) of the MSU, said that apart from overcrowding on campus, the MSU is concerned about higher student-to-faculty ratios and a decrease in the flexibility of course options for students.
“Rising enrolment is only one piece of the puzzle,” he added. “We are currently researching best practices across the higher education sector to improve quality of education for large class sizes.”
Although official numbers won’t be released until November, first-year confirmation numbers from the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre suggest that incoming class will be smaller than last year’s. This time around, the residence space issue is not so dire.
Even so, the number of students enrolling in Ontario universities has been steadily climbing (from 275,000 in 2000 to 434,000 in 2012). A recent report from the Council of Ontario Universities says that province-wide enrolment is up 2.5 per cent from last year. The challenges that come with this are ever present.
Projects that would increase McMaster’s campus capacity include the new $65-million Wilson Building dedicated to liberal arts studies, on which construction will begin next year, as well as a downtown health campus that will be a facility for teaching, research and healthcare delivery.
The Wilson Building will be used by more than half of McMaster’s student population, and the new health campus, to open in 2014, is expected to serve 4,000 students.
Jonathon Fairclough / Production Editor
Farzeen Foda
Senior News Editor
There was a time, not too long ago when the McMaster campus was reaching its capacity. It was known that campus space would be an issue in coming years, but sooner than expected, McMaster passed that threshold.
The university is now operating at full capacity.
For many years, McMaster has kept its target enrolment static, at roughly 5,000 students despite pressure from the provincial government to increase enrolment. Even with a stagnant target enrolment, the University has experienced rapid growth that has continued to put more strain on its resources and infrastructure.
Since 2005, McMaster University has seen a 62.7 per cent increase in the number of full-time undergraduate students, contributing to an over-populated campus, according to the 2010 Campus Capacity study, which found that the McMaster campus is in fact saturated and currently exceeding its capacity. The provincial government, however, continues to push universities to increase enrolment.
In an effort to show the Ministry that the University is willing to do what it can to comply with the goals of the province, but is limited in its capacity to do so, the University increased its target enrolment by a mere 140 students, hardly substantial for an institution serving upwards of 20,000 students,
Peter Smith, McMaster University VP-Academic, said the University is at its maximum capacity to expand.
At the same time that the University’s target increased slightly, McMaster received a greater number of applications, resulting in a 2.5 per cent increase in the number of offers of admission. Subsequently, compared to the previous year, McMaster saw a seven per cent increase in the number of students accepting their offer of admission, followed by an overall 8.7 per cent increase in the number of students who registered for the upcoming academic term, according to Smith.
With the substantial influx of first year students, it became imperative that the University not only arrange physical accommodation for students, whether that be through modifications of classrooms or increasing the number of spaces in residence, but to maintain course availability.
Registration for the 2011/2012 academic year was a much smoother process than it has been in the past, noted Smith. This was due, in part, to slight changes to SOLAR to increase its capacity, as well as increases in the number of spaces in particular courses.
Smith said that 11,000 seats were created in courses particularly in the Faculties of Science, Humanities, and Social Science, as these tend to be faculties that offer courses that are often in high demand for students in other faculties. Most seats were created in first year courses, but the increase in spaces spanned all levels of undergraduate education. The creation of additional seats was accomplished by adding sections to courses that tend to be in high demand.
The addition of sections to courses that are already experiencing high enrolment, although not a permanent solution, especially if McMaster’s growth is expected to continue in this way, was the best temporary solution, given the other potential options.
Other considerations when faced with the challenge of high enrolment, included weekend classes, increasing classroom hours, as well as holding classes off campus, according to Alicia Ali, MSU Vice President, Education.
Despite the markedly high enrolment and the fact the McMaster campus is functioning at capacity, business is resuming relatively stress-free at this time. In fact, many problems facing undergraduate education in recent years, such as the transition from WebCT to Elm have been solved with the implementation of AvenuetoLearn. Meanwhile course registration went relatively smoothly this year, and with an increase in spaces in particular courses, more students were able to get into the courses they wanted.
The University has successfully accommodated climbing enrolment, while maintaining an outstanding reputation, and complying with government expectations of the institution, painting an exquisite portrait of numbers and figures, but with a closer look, what can be found is a saturated campus, hoping it can colour within the lines for one more year.
More seats have been created in courses that already serve a large number of students and are now running at full capacity. The amount of classroom space available on campus is quite literally always in use, explained Smith, noting that much of the testing and maintenance work required for these spaces has been pushed to weekends to accommodate the growing numbers of courses requiring these classrooms during regular business hours.
A similar trend has been observed in the University’s libraries. “Our [library] spaces are at capacity all the time,” said Anne Pottier, an Associate University Librarian, noting that much of the maintenance work has had to be rescheduled to accommodate the high demand for library space.
Library space is running at full capacity, and each square metre of McMaster’s libraries are quickly transforming into rows upon rows of cubicles for quiet study space. “One of the things we’re trying to do, is change our more traditional spaces into user space for students, but in order to do that, we have to compress our collections, and try to find that space,” said Pottier.
The most recent development has been on the second floor of Thode Library, which was cleared of its book stacks during the summer and is now awaiting furniture that is expected to create 400 seats and five different types of study space. The current temporary fixture, in place as of Oct. 17, has created 250 study spaces in the area, featuring folding tables and patio chairs, noted Pottier.
She further explained that the new furniture was expected to be in place by Thanksgiving, but has been delayed. The hope is that the new study space will be completed by the beginning of the coming exam season.
With all available student space on campus running at full capacity at all hours of the day, significant strain is being placed on resources, and maintaining operations in this manner is certainly not a sustainable solution.
It follows without question then, that a more permanent solution needs to be in place as soon as possible. The Wilson Building is a project currently under tremendous support from the City and the University, but also under substantial pressure to accommodate the growing needs of the University.
It is still early in the year, and the high enrolment issue has only surfaced in its entirety in the residence domain of university life, but how this bursting campus will handle the strain during exam time, remains somewhat unclear it seems, especially in the libraries. One key factor in developing additional study space is providing enough power supply outlets for students using laptops, which is difficult in some of the older buildings.
Another concern is the access to quiet study space. Efforts have been made to keep Mills Learning Commons a quiet study space, during late night hours. Noting the stigma surrounding “Club Mills”, Pottier said, “I know people find that the Mills Learning Commons is not as quiet as it can be, but we have really good security guards working with us to try and keep the noise down,” outlining the library’s goal to transform the sixth floor of Mills Library into an absolutely silent study space, prohibiting music, and cell phone use.
The McMaster campus is running at its full capacity at this time. It can be seen in the libraries which are bustling with students at all hours of the day or night. The congestion can be seen on the campus grounds between classes, and in any lecture hall. If everything continues to run smoothly throughout the year, McMaster should be able to manage, but any hiccup throughout the year, such as a snow day, may pose serious complications for the University, noted Smith. The need is eminent and the resources to solve the problem are in place, what remains, is the mobilization of those resources.
