Ottawa considers capping international students

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This article was published 24/08/2023 (779 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government is considering capping the number of international students studying in Canada as a way to address the housing crisis, but local schools aren’t sure how, or if it will affect them.

“As far as I understand, nothing has yet been tabled, so we have no way of knowing how it might affect BU in particular,” Brandon University’s international activities director Dave Rowland told the Sun. “The university reported an increase in international student registration, with about 490 enrolled by Aug. 15, compared to 410 during the same period the previous year. These students make up approximately 15 per cent of the total student enrollment at Brandon University.”

Fraser, and Assiniboine Community College president Mark Frison, both told the Brandon Sun that even if international student enrollment is capped, that it may not make much of a difference in the local rental market.

“The average house price in Brandon is about $311,000, whereas the average house price nationally is $709,000,” said Frison, adding that those numbers could be leveraged to attract students to the community.

Frison, whose school has seen an increase in international enrollment, with around 700 students from as many as 30 countries expected this year, also stressed that international students are key for both Brandon and Manitoba’s growth.

“One of the things we know from our graduate follow-up surveys is that the folks who come to school here tend to remain here after they graduate.”

They also bring other benefits to the community that go beyond economic development.

“International students bring with them a wealth of perspectives and experiences that help to build global citizenship amongst all of our students and add to the social and cultural fabric of our campuses,” said Assiniboine’s vice president in charge of enrollment.

Federal minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser floated the idea of a cap on the over 800,000 international students studying in Canada to deal with housing affordability at the Liberal cabinet gathering in Charlottetown on Monday.

“I think that’s one of the options that we ought to consider,” he said “I think we need to do some serious thinking here.”

However, Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa Conservative Member of Parliament Dan Mazier said that students aren’t the driver of the high cost of housing.

“Justin Trudeau is now trying to blame international students for the housing crisis that his government created,” he told the Sun. “The Liberal government has no plan to address housing affordability and is instead considering crushing opportunities for thousands of students.”

Recently, the Canadian Association of University Teachers and the Canadian Federation of Students sent a joint submission asking the federal government to review of its international education strategy in light of what the groups said are abuses of the student visa system by some private career colleges and recruiters who exploit the system for work permits.

“Rather than a blanket cap on visas, however, we think the matter is best dealt with by eliminating the abuse of student visas, cracking down on unethical recruitment practices, ensuring that universities and colleges have the facilities, services, and infrastructure to support international students, and putting educational/academic priorities first,” said Canadian Association of University Teachers executive director David Robinson.

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