Big-box daycare will not be coming to the University of Victoria in the forseeable future, the UVic board of governors decided this week.

The university was considering asking Kids and Company-- a for-profit company with centres across Canada -- to open a centre at UVic to help ease the shortage of child-care spaces.

But the proposal drew protests from organizations such as the UVic Childcare Action Group and the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., who said corporate child-care chains have no place at UVic.

The university has a waiting list of 300 children for its acclaimed campus child-care program, meaning many children are kindergarten age before they are offered a place.

The board recognized that access to child care is a challenge for faculty and students, said Gayle Gorrill, UVic vice-president of finance and operations.

"But the key was that, after listening to all the concerns about for-profit child care, they decided that, at this point, they wouldn't proceed with that option," Gorrill said.

That doesn't preclude examining the for-profit option some time in the future, she said.

For now, UVic managers will be looking at other ways to enhance on-campus child care, Gorrill said.

That could mean looking for community partners or considering different models, she said.

Doug Sprenger, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local that represents UVic child-care workers, said the board made the right decision and the next step is to look for public funding to expand the existing high-quality program at UVic.

Kids and Company, which already has centres at several Canadian universities, charges employers a fee, then guarantees spaces for employees.

That enables the company to provide high-quality care without charging sky-high fees, Victoria Sopik, Kids and Company president, said in a previous interview.

jlavoie@tc.canwest.com