Canada to Tighten College Standards Amid Growing Foreign Student Population

Canada is taking steps to improve college standards in response to the problems presented by an increasing number of international students attending universities in the nation.

The action is a reaction to complaints that the labor market and housing are being negatively impacted by the fast inflow of overseas students.

The framework, which was unveiled by Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller, would force academic institutions to improve the quality of their services, assistance, and results for overseas students. The autumn semester of 2024 will mark the implementation of these standards. When processing student visas, priority will be given to schools that reach these higher standards. Access to suitable housing is one of the factors used to determine priorities.

Effective December 1, institutions will be required under this effort to verify each applicant’s acceptance letter directly with the Canadian government. This is a reaction to instances of forgeries of college admissions letters, which resulted in hundreds of Indian immigrants unintentionally entering Canada with false documentation.

Miller’s department will also examine the post-graduate work permit program in the coming months and make the required adjustments to bring it into compliance with labor market demands.

• Canadian scholar to deliver keynote speech at UNN Faculty of Engineering 3rd international conference
• Tinubu Issues Warning: Ministers to be Held Responsible for Promised Nigerian Standards
• Banks Facilitate $533.48 Million for Foreign Education via CBN
• Japa: Welders, carpenters, plumbers, others needed in Canada
• Reps to Investigate Use of Foreign Currency Amid Falling Naira

Growing worries that Canadian educational institutions have become unduly dependent on foreign students as a source of finance are the driving force behind this calculated move. There are several universities that target this group because international students pay around five times as much as Canadian students do. Specifically, there has been an increase in these institutions operating out of strip malls and temporary buildings in the Ontario suburb of Brampton, which is near Toronto.

“We know that there has been consistent underfunding of post-secondary education, particularly by provinces, depending on the province, over the years – and institutions are smart and have adapted to that,” Miller stated. “That has gone through at times opportunistic fees that have been charged to international students to close a gap that is really an unnatural one and shouldn’t be the case in a country like Canada.”

With the reduction in provincial financing for post-secondary education over time, post-secondary schools are increasingly depending on tuition fees to cover the shortfall. Due to this funding arrangement, overseas students now pay a sizable share of the tuition at the nation’s colleges. In 2021, foreign students covered an anticipated 68% of Ontario’s college tuition.