Students in the media theory and production program (MTP), a dual four-year program between Fanshawe and Western University were shocked to learn it will be revamped come 2018.

The program, which originally consists of students going back and forth between both campuses to receive both a diploma and degree, will now shift to students taking the two year portion of the media course at Fanshawe, then have the option to apply and get right into the third year of Media, Information and Technoculture (MIT) honour’s degree at Western.

The shift will not affect those students who are currently in the program, however, students were not made aware of this decision, right away. Western took the lead on sending out information about the program chnages.

Claire Laurie, a fourth year MTP student said she found out about the shifted program through word of mouth first, before getting an email from Western explaining the change.

“It’s not officially gone but you can’t search it anymore [online] since [the school] doesn’t want new students to find it, [and try to apply],” Laurie said.

According to Laurie, the shift will not affect her since she is almost completed the program, but is disappointed to see it change.

“I think it is unfortunate that it would stop being a program because as someone who has experienced all of it, I think it is beneficial from both schools as they offer the best of both worlds. You get the theory and the hands on experience with the degree and diploma at the end. It’s a great idea for a four year program,” Laurie said.

Laurie said her favourite part of the program is the best of both worlds aspect from both institutions.

She isn’t too certain how the new program shift will work in terms of going from Fanshawe and then potentially directly into a third year MIT program at Western due to academics and grading system, but said it’s an interesting program to know about.

“It’s different [but] either way you get a great education, which is the most important thing,” Laurie said.

According to Jim Van Horne, co-ordinator of the broadcast journalism program at Fanshawe, co-dinator of the television news program and the MTP co-ordinator, who acts as the liaison between Fanshawe and Western, he said Western was the one who approached the college about the potential changes.

“We’ve been thrilled with the partnership with Western since roughly 2002, and since then we’ve had just an outstanding relationship, but everything evolves. Western approached us about a year ago with [what] they felt was a new partnership so we were thrilled to stay involved with them,” Van Horne said.

“It’s called an articulation agreement rather than a collaboration,” he said.

The program would no longer be at both institutions, which was simultaneously interesting, Van Horne said.

“There’s a lot of moving parts when a student is a student in both schools at the same time. This is the new relationship and we’re happy,” Van Horne said.

Van Horne said MTP was almost like completing five years’ worth of work in four years, which is satisfying, but hard work and rigorous.

According to Van Horne, September 2017, will be the last intake year where students can take MTP and graduate in 2020.

“We’ve always been here for Western students [and] will always be here for Western students,” Van Horne said. “This very specific program and way of getting a degree and diploma at the same time will not exist, but things change. Over time it was a great program, and a lot of great graduate stories have come out of the program and there’s not much we can do about it,” he said.

Van Horne said the new arrangement that’ll replace MTP is a good one, and students should not feel like the credentials they’ve worked on won’t exist in the future and have value. He said in both cases students will still be able to get a degree and diploma.

Aidan McKendrick, another fourth year MTP student, said also found out about the change in program by rumours and then through an email from Western.

He said the email came after the program was deleted off Western’s website and that most people, including students and professors, only found out through the short email from the school.

He also heard rumours circling around. “We weren’t informed until well after everything was done,” McKendrick said.

McKendrick attended a senate meeting to learn more about the decision, where he said students were shamed because apparently the school was trying to get more students involved in the decision of the program, but were told they did not show up to specific meetings.”

“It was pretty frustrating,” McKendrick said.

McKendrick said the email students received from Western didn’t clarify if current students would be able to finish their program, which worried many people.

“I really like the MTP program,” McKendrick said.

He also isn’t sure how the new shift will work, since jumping into a third year university program right from college could be difficult.

Mainly, McKendrick wishes the schools would have communicated better to students and professors through an email and a phone call.

“Letting us know earlier, explaining clearly what was going on [and] why it was cancelled,” McKendrick said.

The school had sent out a few emails to direct students about a meeting explaining the changes, but it was sent out only a few days before it was to take place, which McKendrick said isn’t enough notice for MTP students. McKendrick said it seems Western was more concerned about the administrative side of things.

“It was really frustrating for us to try and get some kind of information, when we’re in this really busy program.”