Laurentian University's Barrie campus plans 'fits perfectly'

An associate vice-president at Laurentian University says a new policy from the province is good news.

The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities has released its vision of how universities will grow in the coming years, and gives details about how the expansion will be funded.

Guidelines governing satellite campuses state they must have 1,000 new students to start, with room for 5,000 more in the next 20 years.

New buildings are expected to have at least 75,000 square feet.

LU associate vice president Craig Fowler said the campuses must also be located in areas that need them, and Laurentian's plan for a satellite campus in Barrie fits these guidelines.

It fits perfectly and ideally in what we've been thinking, he said.

First, just from under serviced area, the Barrie area is the largest [census metropolitan area] in Canada without a university, a stand-alone university campus.

The province is planning to call for proposals in the spring. Fowler said Laurentian is already thinking along those lines for a proposed campus for 2018.

I think this matches what we were anticipating what we were hoping to see from government, he said. By no means does this take away from what we were looking to hear from government.