Sask. Polytech lays off 14, with more cuts likely to come

CTV News

07-08-2025

WATCH: Saskatchewan Polytechnic is laying off 27 people as a lack of international students is impacting revenues.
Saskatchewan Polytechnic has issued layoff notices as the trade and technical school faces a financial shortfall due to a decline in international student enrolment.
In an email to staff on Wednesday, Sask. Polytech President Larry Rosia said the school faced a 'substantial revenue shortfall for the 2025-26 academic year' that would affect programs and employees.
'Over the past few weeks, layoff notices have been issued to 14 out-of-scope employees and eight vacant out-of-scope positions will not be filled,' Rosia said in the internal email obtained by CTV News.
The layoffs represent a 10 per cent reduction in its out-of-scope workforce, Rosia says.
Alongside the layoffs, a number of departments and faculties are being dissolved or merged.
The faculty of business and management and the faculty of digital innovation, arts and sciences are being consolidated under a single dean, according to the internal email. Two offices working under Provost Has Malik have been dissolved, Rosia said.
'These are difficult decisions to make as they impact our colleagues' employment. We are deeply grateful for the contributions and dedication of those affected. Their work has been valued and appreciated by all of us at Sask. Polytech,' said Rosia.
Rosia has faced criticism in the past from the SGEU, which represents non-academic staff at the post-secondary institution.
In December 2024, the union expressed concerns over a 68 per cent growth in the number of management positions under his leadership, while the rest of the workforce grew by only three per cent.
The union accused Rosia — who made a total $563,764 in 2024, according to public disclosures — of laying off in-scope employees to help cover the cost of new management positions.
Now, as federal immigration policy changes have chewed into international student enrolment and the school's cash cow has been put out to pasture, it appears even managers could be on the chopping block.
In his email to staff, Rosia warns that 'looking ahead, more difficult decision will be necessary' as the school navigates the financial pressures.
In a news release Thursday morning, the provincial NDP and the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Faculty Association (SPFA) said the school has come to rely on high-paying international students to compensate for insufficient provincial funding.
The faculty association says 27 staff members were already laid off earlier this year.
'The Sask. Party should have never starved our post-secondary schools of funding,' NDP MLA Tajinder Grewal said.
'We should never have been in this position in the first place.'