International students boost LC enrolment numbers

LARGEST INCREASE COMES FROM INDIA

The national growth of Indian-born foreign students is being seen here at home as young people from around the world seek out high-quality Canadian education and, for some, a path to future residency.

Last week, Lethbridge College announced their enrolment numbers were up this year to a total of 5,154 students.

The increase is led by a dramatic rise in the number of international students attending the college. A total of 471 international students enrolled this year compared to 231 last year.

The largest increase is students from India, jumping from just 14 in 2017 to 176 this year.

“We look at this as a fantastic opportunity,” said Tim Heath, the Dean of the Centre for Applied Arts and Sciences. “It really diversifies our student population.

“A student from India brings a little bit of India with them, and if they choose to return to India, they take a little bit of Lethbridge back.”

Changes to the way Australia handles foreign students resulted in the cancellation of more than 11,000 student visas in 2015.

There is also an undocumented perception regarding the safety of the United States for foreign students.

This, coupled with the federal government’s acceptance of foreign students has led to large increases in the number of students arriving in Canada for their education.

“We know it’s a global village,” said Heath.

“If a door closes in a global village, another opens. Canada is very receptive to student visas.”

The Canadian Bureau for International Education cites nearly 500,000 foreign students currently studying in Canada, and of those, 25 per cent — more than 100,000 — are from India. The organization further cites the number of Indian students grew by 63 per cent in 2016-17, second only to Vietnam, which saw 89 per cent growth.

Many of those students are hoping to make Canada their permanent home.

“We do know a reasonably large per cent of students aim to settle in Canada,” Heath said.

There are pathways for students who begin their path to permanent residency by way of a student visa. Heath said officials from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada – the governing body that oversees immigrants and handles citizenship in Canada – have been part of seminars at the college to assist students interested in becoming permanent residents of Canada.

“It’s regarded as part of our Canadian culture,” Heath said.

“We do, on the whole, welcome new Canadians, immigrants, and refugees, and international students who choose to broker that into work permits and into settlement processes.”

A majority of foreign students are entering the General Studies Stream – similar to domestic students.

Overall, the number of foreign students taking the General Studies stream is nearly three times higher than in previous years and nearly four times higher than the second-ranked program, English as a second Language.

Specifically, academic writing, basic communication, and human development rank among the highest numbers of foreign students in specific classes.

Effective communication is key for all students, according to Heath, and many domestic students take these types of gateway courses which allow them to be better students.

“I do believe in many instances our foreign students are the same as our domestic students,” he said.

The College has identified diversity and global interaction as part of the profile for the institution. But underlying those efforts are questions of access.

“The question always is the tension between how many seats are available for all students, and what are the principles of access,” Heath said.

In short, if classes are filled through competitive entry, the best students will generally take those spots.

If it is not a question of competitive entry, the question becomes whether the class can scale up as demand increases.

It is a question of supply and demand. Heath said at the moment, the college currently can handle the growth they are seeing.

“We have ambitious growth goals, and this is helping us meet it,” he said. “But it’s not as though we have a singular focus (on foreign or domestic students). We want our institution to be sustainable and grow.”