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Canada: British Columbia announces measures to curb exploitation of foreign students
Among the measures announced were a pause on approvals for two years for new post-secondary institutions seeking to enrol international students
Toronto: After Ontario, the province of British Columbia has joined in cracking down on the misuse of the international student system, announcing on Monday that it is “taking action to eliminate exploitive practices”.
The province’s Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills Minister Selina Robinson posted, “We are protecting students and taking action to eliminate bad actors taking advantage of these students!”
Among the measures announced were a pause on approvals for two years for new post-secondary institutions seeking to enrol international students. BC will also implement more frequent inspections of private post-secondary institutions to ensure that new and improved quality standards are met and that students are properly supported. Private degree programmes will need to meet higher standards for approval, including higher assessment criteria for degree quality, demonstrated labour-market need for graduates and appropriate resources, and student supports, the province’s Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills noted in a release.
Robinson made the announcements during a press conference in the town of Surrey.
The province “is taking action to eliminate exploitive practices and improve the quality of post-secondary education by strengthening quality standards and bringing in new safeguards for international students in BC,” the release said.
“International students come here for a good education, but too many are being exploited or taken advantage of,” Robinson said, in a statement.
“These new requirements will help prevent institutions from taking advantage of international students and will eliminate private institutions’ ability to host international students if they are unable to meet the provincial standards for quality education,” the release stated.
On Friday, the province of Ontario announced it was instituting several measures to protect the integrity of its post-secondary education system. The announcement from provincial Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop including placing a moratorium on new partnerships between public and private colleges. Under these arrangements, new private colleges can’t use public institutions’ credentials to issue certificates and diplomas as this system has been accused of being misused.
Of the 1,028,850 international students with study permits in Canada at the end of 2023, over half, 526,015, were in Ontario. Next in the list was British Columbia, which accounted for 202,565.
Students from India comprise the largest national cohort of those with these study permits. Till November 2023, they accounted for 215,190 out of the 579,075 permits issued or 37%, while in 2022, they made for 225,835 out of 548,785, or 41%. The numbers have escalated sharply over the past five years when the number of Indians getting study permits was at less than half the current figure, at 107,070 in 2018.
