2-year cap on student permits
The Federal Government of Canada recently announced a 2-year cap on the number of international students accepted to Canada to pursue their undergraduate ambitions alongside several other policies regarding work permits for spouses and graduates of certain programs.
This policy is a reversal of a relatively welcoming visa policy for international students that has made Canada a top destination for international students across the globe, adding up to 22.3 billion dollars a year to the Canadian economy.
The goal
According to Mark Miller, the Minister of Immigration in his interview with the CBC, this policy is aimed at addressing the increasing housing crisis, especially for international students across Canada, as well as tackling the growth of so-called ‘Diploma Mills’ across Canada that enroll a high number of international students for short-term profit while having little to no facilities for their accommodation and education.
Alongside changes to the number of international students being allowed to be enrolled, the federal government has also made changes to pause giving out work permits to the spouses of undergraduate international students as well as students enrolled in public-private partnership programs while increasing the minimum amount of funds they need to demonstrate for a study permit application in Canada.
The federal government also announced their plans to examine options on part-time work limits for International students.
Student concerns
The policies, while seemingly well-intentioned, can also have major unintended consequences for the post-secondary education sector across Canada. Universities have been relying more on money received from International Students for their operating budget as federal and provincial funding dry up.
The new policies introduced by the federal government aim to decrease the number of international student enrollment in some provinces to almost 50% of the previous years. This may lead to funding reductions for faculties, infrastructure and research in Canadian Universities that are already experiencing budget cuts.
There is also concern that these policies may be used to target International Students regarding the housing crisis; a very complex issue that arises from various structural problems within the Canadian housing market. Policies declared by the federal government have not been able to address the already existing housing crisis for international students and the newly announced policies have not taken any major steps towards providing affordable student housing either.
“It doesn’t seem like the main goal of these policies is to directly help international students, but rather to manage Canada’s growth and infrastructure,” said Joshua Ize-Iyamu, an international student at Memorial University. Without proper rent control in the cities and an increased supply of houses for students and the middle class, it is a tough sell to say that a reduced intake of international students will help the housing problem significantly for students across the country.
These measures can make lives even worse for some students. Undergraduate international students with families will no longer be able to get an open work permit for their spouses which can lead to reduced income and added stress for families in an already dire situation. International differential fees can also see an uptick as universities may try to recover lost revenue through higher differential fees in the absence of significant funding increases on the Federal and Provincial levels. The level of funding required to be demonstrated for a study permit application has also jumped up from CAD 10,000 to 20,635 dollars.
When asked for a comment, Afdhal Jiffry, an international student at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador said that these are “just more nails in the coffin for prospective internationals considering applying to Canadian universities.”
We can all agree that Canada should promote its institutions as providers of quality education to the top talents across the world, not as a pathway for Permanent Residency with lax educational standards. Addressing the diploma mill problem is important but the onus falls mostly on the Federal and Provincial regulators to ensure that such institutions aren’t allowed to operate and recruit students on such a broad scale. The governments have not taken such steps as of yet, instead capping student numbers that affect the already shrinking budgets of large postsecondary institutions as well as career colleges that offer a quality education.
Without providing additional funding and bolstering the support structures for international students, the Federal government of Canada cannot achieve its expressed goal of combating the abysmal living conditions for international students across Canada. This sentiment has also been echoed by faculties across institutions and student organizations as well.
The focus should be on making the country and its universities a more welcoming place for students, both international and domestic; that will not come from these measures. The Canadian government at the Federal and Provincial levels should consider broader structural reforms to address issues regarding increased international student intake and the housing crisis.
