Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada was already seeing a significant increase in the number of foreign students being admitted to post-secondary institutions. In 2016, Statistics Canada reported that the international student population at Canadian universities almost doubled in the decade from 2004/2005 to 2013/2014, rising from 66,000 students to 124,000. In 2013/2014, international students represented 11% of all students on Canadian campuses, up from 7% in 2004/2005. According to Project Atlas, Canada now gets five percent of all international students worldwide, making Canada the seventh most popular destination after the US, UK, China, France, Germany and Australia. International students are fairly concentrated in two fields of study, with almost half of them studying business, management and public administration (27%) and architecture, engineering and related technologies (19%). Foreign students pay substantially higher post-secondary tuition fees, as often as three times higher than domestic students.
Back in 2007, Statistics Canada predicted that after 2012/2013, a major decline in the size of the youth cohorts would begin to affect enrollments, especially with current declines in domestic birth rates. Full-time post-secondary enrolment is expected to reach a trough in 2025/2026, with a student population 9% below the peak 13 years earlier. For this reason, one needs the influx of foreign students to financially support our higher institutions of learning, many of whom may also become permanent immigrants upon completion of their studies. The federal government reportedly estimated that in 2018, international students spent $21.6 billion on tuition, accommodation and other expenses—an economic infusion supporting 170,000 domestic jobs and exceeding the impact of major exports like lumber, auto parts and aircraft. Foreign students also contributed nearly 40 percent of tuition revenues at Canadian universities. As noted, those numbers may well be higher now. As of 2022, international student enrollments in Canada surpassed 600,000, far exceeding the government’s 2012 targets.
Since foreign students contribute billions to the Canadian economy and post-secondary coffers, it critical that international students are treated well and fairly in order to maintain our reputation in the field of higher education. However, this reputation has recently been seriously damaged by the emergence of dozens of private, fly-by-night colleges catering specifically to foreign students. For example, in Quebec alone there were 48 non-subsidized private colleges in 2022, up from 28 in 2015. Overseas, there are countless local education agents whose job it is to advise prospective students on international schools, steer them to the appropriate programs and help them with the application process. Unfortunately, for substantial commissions, many students have been directed to fly-by-night colleges in Canada. Yet this industry remains essentially unregulated, as do recruiters’ relationships with the fast-growing private college sector. According to Montreal immigration lawyer Ho Sung Kim, this is why so many business people are interested in the industry: “Money drives these schools, not education.”
Post-secondary education is under provincial jurisdiction, with each province responsible to oversee accredited bodies. Since such private colleges are basically unregulated, the authorities primarily rely on the receipt of complaints before investigating allegations by foreign students. Governments have received dozens of complaints from students about misleading promotions that guaranteed jobs after graduation, plus promises of high-quality facilities the school didn’t have and tuition refunds the college allegedly refused. In addition, many teachers are technically not qualified to teach in their fields, and turnover is extremely high.
Recruiting firms continue to travel to China, the Philippines, India and Mexico and have signed deals with private and public colleges in Quebec, Ontario, B.C. and New Brunswick. Manitoba is currently the only province to regulate such recruiters. In 2016, the province introduced legislation requiring schools to properly train recruiters and review the information they provide to students. Much more needs to be done by the federal government who is responsible for issuing student visas, perhaps by performing background checks on such private colleges. Such measures would go a long way to maintaining Canada’s otherwise excellent image that we’re doing a decent job welcoming and protecting international students compared to other countries.
FROLITICKS 