International student cap could help clean up post-secondary 'mess,' say B.C. advocates
The federal government recently announced it will cap the number of international student permits over the next two years. Ottawa says the measure is to stabilize the number of international students, who often arrive without "the proper supports they need to succeed."
Proponents say cap needed to improve regulation of private schools. Critics say reputable schools could suffer
Jon Hernandez · CBC News(Ben Nelms/CBC)
The federal government recently announced it will cap the number of international student permits over the next two years. Ottawa says the measure is to stabilize the number of international students, who often arrive without "the proper supports they need to succeed."
After Ottawa announced a two-year cap on student permits, the British Columbia government said it is banning new post-secondary institutions from applying to enrol international students for the next two years.
The federal government has given B.C. an allotment of 83,000 applications in 2024. That could result in 50,000 approved study permits based on current approval rates, according to a statement from the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.
Of the 175,000 international post-secondary students from more than 150 countries in B.C., about 54 per cent are enrolled in private institutions, the province says.
B.C. places 2-year ban on new colleges enrolling international students
On Monday, Selina Robinson, the minister of Post-Secondary Education, said the province began looking into the system last March and found instances of "poor-quality education, a lack of instructors" and even the "scaring away" of students from lodging formal complaints by certain private institutions.
WATCH | International student fees make up large portion of post-secondary budgets in B.C.:
How much do universities and colleges depend on international student fees?
19 hours agoDuration 2:22B.C. is banning new post-secondary institutions from enrolling international students for two years in order to crack down on what it says are "exploitative practices." But Camosun College Society executive director Michel Turcotte tells BC Today host Michelle Eliot that many institutions have come to rely on the tuition fees from international students, having been encouraged by past governments to enrol them.
"They worry that if they complain, it will risk their student visa, and it will sacrifice all the effort their families have put into making sure they can get a quality education," Robinson said. "So they're less likely to complain."
Dungo says her experiences have been positive since the early challenges. She transferred to Pacific Link College in Surrey where she now works as a student ambassador to better support international students.
She also volunteers at Surrey's Progressive Intercultural Community Services (PICS) Society, a non-profit that recently opened an international student union (ISU) to help recently-arrived students.
"We help students with their resumés, we help students get jobs, practise for their interviews," she said. "That makes me so happy, because I didn't have that access."
Private college challenges
Jashan Sidhu, a former international student from India who founded the ISU, recalls struggling to find work when he arrived. He was supported by a friend who let him stay in his basement.
"Every student should have someone here who can take care of them," Sidhu said.
Jashan Sidhu is pictured inside the International Student Union office at PICS Society in Surrey, B.C. He says predatory private schools have become a mounting issue in B.CVancouver lawyer resigns licence after filing 'frivolous and vexatious' lawsuit against neighbour
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