British Columbia and Ontario are planning to crack down on “bad actor” private colleges that they say take advantage of international students, after Ottawa announced a plan to cap foreign study visas for two years.
Selina Robinson, B.C.’s Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, said her province has for months been looking into challenges faced by international students and plans to announce new measures next week to increase quality standards in international education.
“We were hearing stories about bad actors taking advantage of students,” Ms. Robinson told The Globe and Mail in an interview.
“We started doing our own investigating and identifying how to make the system sort of crack down, I’ll say, on the bad actors … and hold them more accountable.”
Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced Monday that Ottawa is imposing a two-year cap on international study visas, slashing them by more than a third in an attempt to rein in an out-of-control system and ease pressure on housing and the health care system. Some provinces with large international student populations, such as Ontario, will see their numbers cut in half.
The visas will be issued on a per capita basis and Mr. Miller said it’s up to the provinces to decide how to distribute them among different types of educational institutions. According to the National Association of Career Colleges, less than 10 per cent of study permit applications are for registered career colleges.
University and college leaders have warned that the federal cap will create financial risks for postsecondary schools in some parts of the country, which could lead to layoffs and program closings.
Jill Dunlop, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities, said in a statement that the province has also been working with the federal government on ways to crack down on predatory recruitment.
“International students play an important role in our communities, providing meaningful benefits to Ontario and our postsecondary institutions. That said, we know some bad actors are taking advantage of these students with false promises of guaranteed employment, residency and Canadian citizenship,” she said.
“We also need to work together to ensure the students coming to Canada receive an education that is responsive to Ontario’s labour needs, especially in the skilled trades.”
Ontario is finalizing the details of its own plan to deal with “bad actors” in the postsecondary sector, with the priority being to clamp down on private colleges, a senior government source said. The Globe is not identifying the source as they are not authorized to speak about internal government affairs.
The province is also looking at ways to combat bad recruitment practices, the source said, and wants to ensure that postsecondary institutions have sufficient housing plans for international students. The source said the decision on how to allocate visas is likely going to take months, as the province decides how institutions are going to be affected by the federal cap.
Ontario has so far refused to say whether it will lift its years-long tuition freeze or provide more funding to universities and colleges to make up for the shortfall from higher fees paid by international students.
Ms. Robinson said the B.C. government has heard stories from international students and organizations about schools promising in-class instruction when there was no classroom; supports and housing that didn’t materialize; and instructors who didn’t show up to class.
She said B.C. is looking for international students who meet the province’s labour-market needs, such as health care workers, early childhood educators and construction workers.
“These are the things that we need, and we need immigrants and international students who we hope will become immigrants, to fill the void,” she said.
The federal government’s changes also include ending postgraduation work permits for international students who begin a study program at a school operating under a public-private partnership model. That permit was a key draw for students to attend private colleges that team up with public colleges through curriculum licensing agreements.
Ms. Robinson said Ottawa’s changes give B.C. more control over who is coming into the province and can help to fill labour-market needs.
“It’s better for students, because there’s going to be more accountability, and it’s better for our economy, because we’ll be getting students who are going to help to fill the gaps,” she said.
With a report from Justine Hunter in Victoria
Laura Stone