Study permits cap: Ontario college with the most international students comes out swinging against Canada’s reforms
The Ontario college that boasts the largest number of international students in the country is unapologetically touting its growth plan in an effort to address what it calls Canada’s “baby deficit.”
Kitchener-based Conestoga College, which has seen new approved study permits up 137 per cent over the last three years, said the prosperity of the local communities is threatened by the pressure on the labour supply — a result of a declining birthrate and an aging workforce — as well as the recent changes to Canada’s international education program.
“The college has expanded its enrolment and attracted the level of international students necessary to compensate for the ‘baby deficit’ that will be the hallmark of the next several decades.”
The report, titled “The Conestoga Effect,” came in the wake of a two-year cap imposed by Immigration Minister Marc Miller recently to restrict the number of new study permits issued in order to rein in Canada’s fast-growing international student program, which he said has been used as a back entry into the country for jobs and permanent residence.
According to data from the Immigration Department, Conestoga, a public college with 11 campuses in eight cities, has seen the fastest growth in new study permits received — 12,822 in 2021; 20,905 in 2022; and 30,395 in 2023 — and one of the highest volumes of study permits extended over the three-year period — 2,837, 4,629 and 6,760 respectively.
Those numbers have raised eyebrows and drawn criticisms of the college for running the operations like what Miller has described as “puppy mills,” which Conestoga president John Tibbits vehemently denied on Tuesday.
“I am happy with what we’ve done. And we would do the same thing again,” he told an audience at the unveiling of the report, which was the fourth in a series over two decades that started in 2003, to capture the impact of the institution on the local community and economy.
“We are the most popular college in Canada. Now, why would that be? Are they all fools?” asked Tibbits. “If we were a disaster, the applications would dry up.”
In its 66-page report, Conestoga said it has become a dominant educational destination for international students since 2017, topping the list of top 10 Canadian schools for the number of work permits that were issued to the talent it has attracted.
The report, authored by University of Waterloo economics professor Larry Smith, said international students are enrolled in Conestoga programs that broadly align with the industries where labour shortage is most acute.
In 2022, for instance, 35 per cent of international students studied programs related to business, around 36 per cent studied in the school’s workforce development programs, nine per cent in IT, and three per cent were in health and life sciences. A new bridging program for internationally trained nurses saw enrolment up from 180 in 2022 to more than 300 last year.
“As the 99 per cent approval rate of postgraduate work permit applications from Conestoga graduates demonstrates, Conestoga is seen as a respected educational institution that supplies highly qualified labour locally and nationally,” it said, adding that both its domestic and international graduates have similar employment rates, around 85 per cent.
There are also immediate economic benefits, the report noted, with international students overall spending over $12.3 billion in Ontario and sustaining about 118,206 jobs in this province. The school estimated that its domestic graduates represent 58.9 per cent of local resident employment and their annual employment income is at least $4.1 billion. More than 5,200 Conestoga graduates are local entrepreneurs.
Tibbits said Conestoga has been a staunch supporter of the international student program since around 2010, when Ottawa came up with a policy to allow international students to work limited hours off campus and stay on open work permits for up to three years after they graduate.
Over the years, he said the college has invested millions and millions in building capacity, including the $140 million new Skilled Trades Campus in Cambridge, where Conestoga’s new report was released. It also has 300 full-time staff to provide wrap-around support services for students, who have 250 programs to choose from, made possible through international enrolment.
“What we’re trying to do is make this a better community, and what we would hope people would understand is that no one in this college is making a ton of money,” said Tibbits, who has served as the school’s president since 1987.
He admitted there are problems with the international student program and he understood why the federal government changed the rules, including doubling the amount of the cost-of-living requirement for study permit applicants to $20,000 a year.
But he maintained that Conestoga is not one of those bad actors that recruit international students irresponsibly, pointing fingers at public colleges that provide curriculum at a fee to private career college partners to deliver programs in Greater Toronto. Graduates from the private colleges then get a public college credential, which makes them eligible for a postgraduate work permit as a pathway for permanent residence.
Misinformation fuels the anti-international student sentiments that they all are struggling with homelessness and food insecurity.
“You think that they’re coming here, they’re all gonna starve to death,” said Tibbits. “There’s no place to live and they won’t get jobs. This is just nonsense.
“We need this community to get behind this college because this college is here for the community. If we’re not successful, you’re not going to be successful.”
Tibbits said he’s prepared to offer a “deep cut” but he is upset with the hastiness with which these changes are made by the federal government.
This article was reported by The Star
