Colleges Ontario, the association representing the province’s public colleges, says the federal government’s recent announcement about measures to limit international students “is already causing significant and unnecessary upheaval for students, employers and communities.”
The changes, a statement from the association says, “are creating havoc for students now.”
And the decisions have been rushed, “resulting in a confusing and damaging early rollout.”
Michael Wales, director of communications for Niagara College, says although he understands the motivation behind the changes to the program, agrees “they were rushed, and they lacked meaningful consultation. That is really reflected in the uncertainty and chaos it’s already causing the students.”
There are about 6,200 international students studying at Niagara campuses for the winter term, he says, and more applications are arriving for students who hope to begin this spring.
An immediate concern with the spring term, Wales adds, is a new requirement for a “letter of attestation,” effective immediately, and applying to all study permit applications.
“Provincial attestation letters serve as confirmation that an applicant has met the provincial requirements for study. There is currently no system in place to generate these documents in Ontario, or any province outside of Quebec,” he says. “This has essentially created a moratorium on study permit applications. It has also created significant uncertainty and worry for students, and we’re assessing the potential impact on our spring term enrolment.”
The new measures don’t seem to take into account the role colleges play, he says, “and what international students bring to our community.” They study programs in areas such as healthcare, hospitality and tourism, and skilled trades. Restricting the admission of those students “will have an impact right here in Niagara. This will compound the shortages that already exist,” as many international students typically go on to work in those fields.
“We know there is a critical shortage of frontline healthcare workers in Ontario, and we’re certainly feeling it in Niagara. At Niagara College we graduate 1,000 healthcare students every year, and many of them go to work in hospitals, clinics and long-term care homes in Niagara.”
Niagara College “also graduates hundreds of students in skilled trades, and this comes at a time when we’re pursuing ambitious targets in new home constructions. This creates another hurdle in closing that gap in skilled trades,” Wales says.
As well, the college has 19 post-graduate courses in areas such as tourism and hospitality, advanced care paramedics, automotive technicians and business programs “which are important in Niagara and beyond,” he says, and will also be impacted by the restrictions.
While the cap on international students is also being tied to contributing to the housing crisis, Niagara College considers housing availability when accepting international students, and has a team working with students on various options, including on- and off-campus housing, shared accommodations and home stay programs. The college is also in the process of building more residences on its NOTL and Welland campuses, Wales says.
In immigration minister Marc Miller’s announcement of the changes, he called them “blunt measures” to improve “program integrity” and help ensure the success of international students. He likened the “bad actor” schools he says he’s targeting to “puppy mills,” reported The Trillium, a Village Media news website, and he described them as private colleges offering “sham commerce degrees” in office space above massage parlours that no one actually goes to, with their students driving Ubers instead.
Wales is confident in the ability of Niagara College to offer quality education through its private-public partnership. The college offers a suite of programs with the Toronto School of Management at Niagara College Toronto, he says, programs which are subject “to the same quality assurance and oversight as the programs that are delivered at our home campuses in Niagara.”
Students currently enroled at Niagara College Toronto remain eligible to apply for a post-graduate work permit, he adds, but “we’re still assessing the longer-term implications of the federal government’s new measures that come into effect in September.”
The cap on international students creates a reduction of 35 per cent across Canada, but the impact in Ontario is likely to be greater, Wales says. “It’s hard for us to say with any certainty what that will mean for our fall enrolments, as we don’t know how the province will allocate study permits within Ontario.”
The moratorium on new public-private college partnerships is also expected to cut off an important source of revenue for colleges, feeding the fear of rising tuition for local students.
Possibly coming for colleges, Wales says, is a slight rise of domestic post-secondary tuition, which is now frozen in Ontario. “Colleges have asked for a modest increase in domestic tuition — approximately $135 per student.”
Ontario colleges, Niagara College included, are already working together, he says, “advocating for more realistic timelines, to slow this down,” and to take into account the impact not only on students and colleges, but also the negative impact these measures will have on local economies.
