When Ottawa informed the government of British Columbia about major cuts to the number of international students who will be permitted to come to the province this year, Premier David Eby’s reaction revealed much about the unmooring of the International Student Program.
Mr. Eby is asking Ottawa to allow his province some latitude to wriggle around the new cap, because he is worried about B.C.’s ability to continue to use the program to address the province’s labour market needs.
Rather than a focus on attracting the best and brightest students to Canada, the B.C. government is worried about protecting its supply of new workers for long-term care facilities and daycares, and for skilled trades such as – the premier suggested – truck drivers.
Canada has long been a destination for international postsecondary students, promising them a world-class education that enhances our own goals: attracting the finest young minds from around the globe to study alongside Canadians, to share their cultures and make international connections. Often, these students will stay and build their professional lives here.
But elements of the fast-growing program have been repurposed. Some of that has been achieved by private colleges selling diplomas of dubious merit as a backdoor to permanent residency. But it is also governments that have come to regard the program as a supplement to postsecondary funding, as well as a tool to address labour market shortages.
This invites an unflattering comparison to Canada’s temporary foreign worker program, which offers Canadian employers a cheap labour pool unfettered by fair wage demands.
The number of international students in Canada has surged in recent years, and now the federal government is under political pressure to reduce the numbers as a salve for the housing crisis in big cities.
On Jan. 22, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller imposed an immediate cap on the number of international study visas that it issues across the country. Ontario and B.C. will face real challenges in adjusting, because they have the largest share of foreign students. The cap, in their case, will mean fewer study permits awarded in those provinces this year.
Both provinces have promised to improve their slap-dash regulation of postsecondary institutions. They will go after the “bad actors” that they say have been exploiting students. But to do so they will have to get over their dependency on the tuition foreign students pay.
Those fees have allowed provinces to stint on public spending in postsecondary education without raising tuition fees for their domestic students.
British Columbia. for instance, has a 2-per-cent cap on annual domestic tuition fee increases, but no such cap exists for international students. Annual tuition rates in the province average $6,919 for Canadian students; international students pay an average of $30,480.
If the provinces are guilty of exploiting international students, Ottawa must take responsibility for creating the opportunities for that mistreatment.
Since 2022, international students have been allowed to work full-time off-campus while attending school. This was introduced as a “temporary” measure to address a national labour shortage. Mr. Miller now says he will roll that back to a mere 20 or 30 hours a week, to “protect international students from financially vulnerable situations and exploitation.” But not yet.
Canada’s reputation as a destination for top students from around the world is now damaged. Tens of thousands of prospective students awaiting study permits for this spring term are in limbo while the provinces argue about their market share.
The program is in chaos, a failure of federalism, where both Ottawa and the provinces have neglected to work together to execute their respective responsibilities. The program should never have been tailored to address short-term labour market demands for truck drivers and child care workers.
Canada can have an international student program that shines again, if both levels of government reconnect with its original, higher purpose.