Mark Kirkpatrick / Loyalist College.
The President and CEO of Loyalist College continues to stress that the College remains committed to serving the community and the four counties.
Mark Kirkpatrick spoke with InQuinte.ca about the strong start to the fall semester, which included the Open House in October.
Outside of the main Belleville campus, Loyalist has locations in Tyendianga, Bancroft, and Port Hope.
Loyalist currently has 2,455 students enrolled in total across the campus network. Kirkpatrick said that of that total, roughly 150 students are international, with a large amount of students from India and Nigeria.
He added that the team is really proud of meeting their target numbers for domestic and international students, and adds that it shows positive signs for the future.
“What has been impressive is that over the last couple of years, we have held our domestic numbers, roughly. That’s a really good sign considering all the work and program rationalization we have been working through. Our ability to bring on new programs that bring students in and get people excited about the workforce opportunities and jobs at the end of their program. Being able to maintain that has been really good. It’s a really positive sign, and now we’re back at where I expect to see some significant growth in domestic (student numbers) year over year,” said Kirkpatrick.
Loyalist College has significantly reduced the amount of programs it has traditionally offered. The College announced in early 2025, that it would go from offering around 90 programs to roughly 65-70 programs.
This fall, Loyalist is offering just over 50 programs. Kirkpatrick highlighted that the College is excited to launch in Fall 2027, new graduate certificate programs., Registered Nurse-Critical Care Nursing, and Cyber Security. During that time, the College will offer the Business and Business Sales and Marketing programs online. He noted that they are trying to get a Renewable Energy program offering up and running.
Loyalist currently has some online information sessions running, highlighting six key programs.
“It’s not always just about all the new programs. Sometimes we are just trying to figure out the different ways to deliver programs that meet the students needs, and we’re also going to try to do some more programs at our Port Hope campus with Early Childhood Educator and our mental health and addictions programs. We found great success in running those programs in Belleville. I think there are needs across our region,” said Kirkpatrick.
The program changes and staff cuts over the last two-years have been tied to concerns about finances. In December 2025, Kirkpatrick spoke to InQuinte.ca about the deficit, a plan to get back on track, and entering a loan agreement with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.
Right now, Loyalist is in the third-quarter of its fiscal year. The College’s fiscal year runs until March 31st, 2027.
Speaking to this fiscal year, Kirkpatrick added that the College projected a deficit of just under $8 million.
“The third-quarter really is an important quarter for us to look at the numbers. But every sign that I have seen, every number I have seen come to me, says that we are on or a little bit better than target. Which is a really good sign. The institution has done some tremendous work to make some very difficult decisions, rationalize what we do here, and we are on a path to sustainability,” said Kirkpatrick.
Outside of programming and financial plans, the College suffered a cyber attack in July. Kirkpatrick added that there is no new news to tell at this point. He stressed that the College was upfront early on, that data was exfiltrated. Loyalist is currently working with two third-party firms to understand exactly what data was accessed, and how that might impact people, before they comment further. The College did not pay a ransom.
There are no discussions about Loyalist College merging with Fleming College and St. Lawrence College.
“We are really sharply and keenly focused with aligning the programming with the labour market needs of our region…that is the roll of this institution,” concluded Kirkpatrick.
