KPU Budget Risks Reducing Course Access and Workforce Training for Local Students
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
KPU Budget Risks Reducing Course Access and Workforce Training for Local Students
Surrey, BC — The Kwantlen Faculty Association is calling on Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Board of Governors to table approval of the FY26–27 budget, warning that proposed cuts risk reducing course access for students and weakening KPU’s ability to prepare people in the South of the Fraser for in-demand jobs.
The budget, scheduled for approval this week, includes permanent reductions to teaching capacity and is being advanced in January rather than KPU’s usual March timeline. Faculty say the budget does not clearly show where cuts will land or how they will affect course availability, class sizes, waitlists, or students’ ability to complete programs.
“When teaching capacity is reduced, the impact shows up quickly and directly,” said Mark Diotte, President of the Kwantlen Faculty Association. “Students face fewer course sections, longer waits, and delays in completing credentials they need to get into the workforce.”
KPU serves one of the fastest-growing regions in British Columbia. As a teaching-focused university, its mandate is to provide accessible public post-secondary education aligned with regional educational and labour-market needs, including occupations identified in provincial labour market outlooks as being in sustained demand. Faculty are concerned that the proposed budget reduces instructional capacity without showing how the university will continue to meet those needs.
“When local programs are cut back, students are forced to look outside the region, take on additional costs, or delay their education altogether,” said Diotte. “That undermines access and runs counter to KPU’s role in serving this region.”
Faculty also question the longer-term implications of the budget. They argue that short-term cost reductions that shrink teaching capacity risk undermining KPU’s ability to deliver relevant programs, respond to changing labour-market demand, serve domestic students effectively, and support for underrepresented groups in higher education.
Beyond the substance of the cuts, faculty raise concerns about process. Consultation with the Faculty Association began only days before the scheduled Board vote, after the budget had already been reviewed by the Board’s Finance Committee, leaving no meaningful opportunity to influence decisions. Faculty note that KPU has previously been found in breach of its duty to consult when consultation occurred too late to matter.
The Association is further concerned that the budget is being advanced while a faculty-elected Board seat remains vacant, a student-elected Board seat remains vacant, and that the meeting scheduled to approve the budget is expected to proceed without the University President and the Board Vice-Chair present.
The Faculty Association is not opposing fiscal restraint, but is calling for a pause.
“Tabling the budget until March would allow the Board and the public to clearly understand how these decisions affect students, course access, and KPU’s ability to serve students’ educational needs and regional workforce needs,” said Diotte. “Approving permanent reductions without that clarity risks long-term harm that will be difficult to reverse.”
The Kwantlen Faculty Association represents more than 900 faculty members across KPU’s campuses.
Contact:Mark Diotte
President, Kwantlen Faculty Association
president@yourkfa.ca
