A handful of publicly funded colleges in Ontario — not private colleges — are now being blamed for much of the increase in international student enrollments that have contributed to rising housing costs and a strain on Canadian infrastructure.
According to one CBC News data analysis, all but one of the 30 Canadian colleges and universities that granted the most study permits last year was a publicly funded post-secondary institution.
Ten Ontario colleges, all funded with taxpayer dollars, accounted for almost 30 percent of study permits in the country over the past three years, the Canadian broadcaster reports.
And 12 publicly funded colleges in Ontario more than tripled their number of annual study permits in the five years ending Dec. 31, 2023.
Michael Sangster, chief executive of the National Association of Career Colleges, is not surprised by the results of the CBC News investigation.
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“Of the 599,355 international study permit applications approved or extended by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2023, only 4.4 percent were for regulated career colleges that are members of the industry association I lead, Sangster wrote in an op-ed in Citizen of Ottawa Newspaper.
“This represents a proportional decline over the past three years, as my member institutions achieved 5.2 percent and 4.8 percent of new and extended study permit approvals in 2021 and 2022 respectively.”
The findings of the national broadcaster’s investigation also fly in the face of claims made by Canadian politicians that private sector colleges have been the main drivers of the increase in the number of international students in Canada.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller reportedly went so far as to call these private colleges bad actors who are “the equivalent of puppy mills just churning out degrees”.
While still blaming some private colleges, the immigration minister has since admitted that at least some public colleges have also played their part.
“Some of the really, really bad actors are in the private sphere and they need to be shut down, but there’s accountability across the board,” Miller reportedly said. “We just need the provinces in question, in this case Ontario, to take their responsibility.”
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Last month, the immigration minister set the limit study permit applications for this year at 606,250.
“The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure that the number of study permit applications received for processing by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration … within the scope of the guidelines does not exceed 606,250 study permit applications for a year beginning on the date of signature.” THE Canada Gazette reported on February 3.
“As provided in this instruction, certain categories of study permit applications are exempted from the conditions set forth in this instruction and from the corresponding application limit established by this instruction.”
The president and CEO of the Canadian Bureau of International Education (CBIE), Larissa Bezo, has called the study permit cap an “open-ended instrument” and expressed concern that it could have serious unintended consequences.
The study permit cap will reduce the arrival of new international students by a third
“This is not the way we would have chosen to address these sustainability issues,” she said.
“But if we look at this from 50,000 feet, what these policy measures do is give us an opportunity to be more strategic and intentional about ensuring a sustainable approach for the long term.”
The CBIE website describes the study permit cap as a hasty, one-size-fits-all solution that could jeopardize the benefits of international education that many communities across the country experience and rapidly unravel a strong global brand. Canadian education that has taken years to build.
“A 35 percent reduction in student visas is ultimately a signal to prospective international students around the world that Canada is closing its doors,” notes the CBIE website.
“These measures have the potential to cause irreparable damage to the EduCanada brand and in a highly competitive market, students may choose to choose other places instead, well beyond the two-year duration of these measures.”
Excluded from this new limit on international study permits are those international students who already have study permits and are seeking to renew them, and the family members of a temporary resident who already has a work or study permit.
Also excluded from the study permit limit are:
- members of the armed forces of a country under the Visiting Forces Act, including a person who is designated as a civilian component of those armed forces;
- officials of foreign governments sent, pursuant to exchange agreements between Canada and one or more countries, to undertake duties with a federal or provincial agency;
- participating in sporting activities or events, in Canada, either as an individual participant or as a member of a foreign-based team or Canadian amateur team;
- employees of foreign news companies reporting on events in Canada;
- people responsible for helping congregations or groups achieve their spiritual goals and whose primary duties are to preach doctrine, perform functions related to the meetings of their congregations or groups, or provide spiritual counseling.
