International student applications down
Bad news for colleges and universities, good news for housing
International student enrolment down 45 per cent, Universities Canada says. Sean Previn, Global News, September 2024.
It sounds like the federal government hitting the brakes has already had an impact - prospective international students are getting the message. In January, when they announced the new province-wide caps, they were expecting total 2024 study permits to be about 2/3 of 2023 numbers, but it looks like it's going to be more like half. The story quotes universities and colleges warning that this is bad news for them, but for housing it's good news.
A group representing almost 100 of Canada’s universities is warning the impact from the federal government’s cap on international students will be “far greater” than what Ottawa aimed for.
Gabriel Miller, president of Universities Canada, told Global News when the schools officially finish counting how many students have arrived and enrolled, there will be at least a 45 per cent drop of international students. The final tally will be reported in October.
Some stories along the same lines:
Conestoga offering early retirement deal to faculty, staff after international enrolment dramatically cut. Jeff Outhit and Robert Williams, Waterloo Region Record, April 2024.
New limits on international students are causing turmoil among colleges, universities. Jessica Wong, CBC News, September 2024.
Mohawk College set to axe hundreds of employees starting in early December. Kate McCullough, Hamilton Spectator, November 2024. “Layoffs come as college faces plummeting international enrollment.”
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A couple recent changes to tighten regulations: International students must get a new study permit before changing schools. And for schools that fail to submit compliance reports or verify acceptance letters, they can be suspended from admitting international students for up to a year.
Alex Usher, The Road Ahead for International Students, November 2024. For colleges, “their business has mostly been wrecked by the September announcement that most of the programs (and specifically business programs) that their international students take are now excluded from the Post-Graduate Work Permit system.” More broadly, he suggests that the churn in rules may be deliberate on Marc Miller’s part - it’s helping to drive down demand.
U.S. election’s greatest fallout: a new immigration challenge for Canada. Claude Lavoie (formerly with the Department of Finance), Globe and Mail. “Most studies suggest immigration has a small negative effect on our real GDP per capita in the short term and a small positive impact in the long term. The time it takes for the negatives to turn positive (if ever) depends on the type of immigrant and the amount of resources devoted to their integration. The impact quickly becomes positive for young, well-educated economic immigrants who speak one of our official languages and have some education or work experience in Canada.”
Why Canada’s changing its immigration system. A seven-minute video by Trudeau. The first step in fixing a problem is admitting that there’s a problem.
Globe editorial, The meltdown in Canada’s refugee system. Comments on a recent surge in refugee claims by international students, and makes an interesting suggestion: process new refugee claims first. “At the moment, the board hears cases in the order they were filed – first in, first out. That rule may have made sense a decade ago, but now the paramount concern has to be eliminating the wait times that create an incentive to file a dubious claim. The solution is obvious: hear new claims promptly. If the benefit of filing a refugee claim is only a few weeks more residence, most spurious claims will disappear.”