OTTAWA — Canadian faculties and universities are responding to a money crunch introduced on by Ottawa’s minimize to worldwide scholar permits with layoffs, hiring freezes and repair reductions, say folks within the post-secondary schooling sector.
OTTAWA — Canadian faculties and universities are responding to a money crunch introduced on by Ottawa’s minimize to worldwide scholar permits with layoffs, hiring freezes and repair reductions, say folks within the post-secondary schooling sector.
A yr in the past, the federal authorities introduced a 35 per cent discount in research permits — bringing the quantity all the way down to an estimated 360,000 for 2024 — one of many first main reductions in Canada’s everlasting and non permanent immigration targets.
Worldwide college students pay a lot greater tuition charges than their home counterparts. Submit-secondary establishments throughout the nation are nonetheless struggling to fill that gap — and to determine which applications and providers they will dwell with out.
Council of Ontario Universities president Steve Orsini mentioned that colleges in his group, which incorporates 20 of the province’s high universities, anticipate a mixed lack of $330 million this fiscal yr and $600 million within the upcoming fiscal yr.
“It is had a profound damaging impact on the sector at a time when Ontario universities are going through important monetary challenges,” Orsini mentioned.
“We’re seeing across-the-board cuts in programming and providers, layoffs, hiring freezes, deferred capital investments. We’ve 9 scholar residence tasks … which have both been cancelled or delayed.”
British Columbia Federation of College students chair Jessie Niikoi mentioned college students are seeing cuts and reductions to providers “throughout the board,” together with reductions in library hours and providers and decreased entry to educational advisers.
“The work that we do goes to proceed by way of advocating for extra funding, particularly now greater than ever, and I feel establishments have to take that step by way of advocating for extra funding as a result of we’re seeing the system worsen and worse, one price range minimize at a time,” Niikoi mentioned.
Tuition charges fluctuate throughout the nation however worldwide college students constantly pay considerably greater than home college students.
Home tuition at Toronto Metropolitan College ranges from round $7,200 to $11,000 for undergrads. Worldwide college students taking the identical programs pay roughly $35,000 to $40,000.
On the College of British Columbia, most home undergrads pay round $5,900 for his or her first-year programs. Worldwide college students in the identical applications pay about $47,000.
Roughly 19 per cent of Ontario college college students are from outdoors Canada, mentioned Orsini.
He added that the lack of tuition income from worldwide college students is being compounded by Ontario’s tuition freeze for home college students and by working grants that do not sustain with the price of operating universities.
“So universities actually are going through an ideal storm. All three funding levers have been minimize and frozen,” he mentioned.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller mentioned the worldwide scholar system was set as much as entice expertise to fill key roles within the labour market, however he needed to make the minimize as a result of this system bought “overheated.”
As for the funding challenges going through universities and faculties, Miller mentioned that is not the federal authorities’s drawback.
“I did not inform any college or faculty to cost worldwide college students 4 or 5 instances what we cost home college students. That is not my position on this,” Miller informed The Canadian Press in late December.
Each the B.C. and Ontario governments put more cash into post-secondary establishments following the introduction of the worldwide scholar cap.
B.C. introduced a 24 per cent improve for post-secondary establishments in that province’s 2024/25 price range, bringing the full to $3.12 billion.
Ontario launched a three-year sustainability fund for universities and faculties, valued at $903 million, and dedicated to sustaining the provincial tuition freeze.
The variety of worldwide research permits for these two provinces was primarily minimize in half with the worldwide scholar cap.
A report by Greater Training Technique Associates says tuition from Indian college students alone contributed extra to funding Ontario’s post-secondary establishments than the provincial authorities.
Orsini mentioned that with Ontario’s stability funding expiring in slightly over two years, and the schooling freeze remaining in place for roughly the identical period of time, extra cuts are anticipated.
Miller acknowledged the worldwide scholar cap is a “blunt instrument” to deal with “dangerous actors” within the schooling system. The minister mentioned these are primarily for-profit profession faculties he in comparison with pet mills.
Whereas Miller would not have jurisdiction over funding for post-secondary establishments, he mentioned the enterprise mannequin of many post-secondary establishments wants to vary.
“In order that’s not a wholesome enterprise mannequin, and it is one which Ontario specifically wants to deal with rapidly,” Miller mentioned.
“They’re feeling it now that their establishments are in a little bit of bother and that is unlucky for a sector that prides itself on being top-of-the-line on the earth.”
Niikoi mentioned she needs to see the provincial and federal governments increase funding for the post-secondary sector to arrange the subsequent technology of staff for fulfillment.
“We have seen declining enrolments ever because the announcement occurred, and I feel on the nationwide aspect Canada is now not a fascinating place due to the bulletins,” she mentioned.
“Nothing can occur except (the provincial and federal) governments work collectively, and we want the federal government to behave now so we now have that dependable funding for public establishments, and we do not have to depend on worldwide scholar numbers or their tuition for funding.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 18, 2025.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press
