A report released Friday morning in Fredericton recommends blending universities and community colleges in parts of New Brunswick to form polytechnic institutions.

It's a move students and staff at the University of New Brunswick Saint John have feared and bitterly oppose.

'I see that our programs, if [a merger] would occur, would be diminished .'

—Eric Savoie, University of New Brunswick Saint John student union

Eric Savoy, the UNB Saint John student union's external vice president, said they're concerned a merger would short-change students on the kind of schooling they deserve.

"I see that our programs, if that were to occur, would be diminished," Savoie said. "It would be more specific and focused, and we wouldn't have that broad range of educational opportunity."

The university students have said they don't want to sacrifice the liberal arts, but the authors of Friday's report argued polytechnic institutes combine applied skills training with broad subject matter, giving students the best of both worlds — career-ready skills as well as a degree.

Executive Director of Polytechnics Canada Sharon Maloney said it's wrong to think that polytechnic schools offer an "inferior" education.

"We've got an attitude sometimes in this country that sees university education as the pinnacle of education, and sees college education and/or a polytechnic education as inferior," she said. "We really are not being responsive to what the market place is demanding."

Saint John mayor disagrees with report

The merged schools would offer certificates, diplomas, undergraduate degrees, and some graduate degrees. There would also be apprenticeship training and first- and second-year arts and science programs for transfer into other institutions.

Saint John Mayor Norm McFarlane said that while he supported the idea of the two schools working more closely together, lumping them together to form one institution would not be a step in the right direction.

"I do not know what the report says, but personally, I do not agree with them being one," he said, adding he's received 98 e-mails so far from concerned students, faculty and citizens who do not want a merger to happen.

University leaders in Fredericton and Saint John have assured students they'll do whatever is in their power to protect UNBSJ.

Enrolment at the New Brunswick Community College in Saint John has been steadily increasing while enrolment at UNBSJ has been in decline.