Ontario’s universities demand more than one-third of the province’s international student applications

Ontario’s universities say more than one-third of the province’s international student applications should go to them, maintaining they are “not the cause” of the current troubles and “should not be asked to shoulder the consequences” of government clampdowns.

“Universities have been very careful and responsible in taking on new students,” said Steve Orsini, president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities, adding foreign undergraduate student enrolment has held steady over the past four years at around 23,000 despite explosive growth in public and private colleges.

“We’ve been doing it for decades — we’ve been very responsible and managing the growth. So when there’s a gold rush for international students, universities didn’t play that game. We were very measured and responsible to ensure that our students were put first” with proper services such as housing and mental health supports, said Orsini in releasing the council’s proposal in response to the federal government’s recent announcement curbing student visas and leaving it to provinces to divide them up.

The council is asking that about 82,250 of 235,000 eligible undergraduate applications be given to the province’s 23 publicly assisted universities, and be allocated based on enrolment.

Amid all the uncertainty — and the possibility of students ultimately choosing to study elsewhere — Orsini said the universities are hoping that translates into about 28,000 approvals, which will keep international undergraduate enrolment stable at under 20 per cent.

 

 

”This will ensure we can continue to recruit the best and the brightest talent from across the globe,” the council’s proposal says.

It is unclear how colleges will react to the universities’ proposal, given the clawback in the number of foreign student spots and the sector’s increasing reliance on the fees those students pay. Many public colleges also partner with private colleges to offer diplomas that comes with a post-graduation work permit, which Ottawa has now put an end to.

Ontario has since announced it will impose a moratorium on new public-private college partnerships.

 

This article was reported by Star