Private colleges aren't exploiting foreign students

We're training Canadians for jobs,

Recent headlines might have convinced Canadians that international students are a key contributor to the affordability crisis, particularly where housing is concerned. A slew of commentators, lobbyists and policymakers have further suggested that private colleges are specifically and exclusively to blame for the recent explosion of international students in Canada over the last three years.

This is simply false. Here are the facts.

Of the 599,355 international study permit applications approved or extended by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2023, just 4.4 per cent were for regulated career colleges who are members of the industry association I lead. This represents a proportional decrease over the past three years, as my member institutions clocked in at 5.2 per cent and 4.8 per cent of new and extended study permit approvals in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

These statistics might come as a surprise to some who have grown accustomed to the accusation that “private colleges” are the root cause of Canada's international student boom. But they are not surprising to me or my membership; we have consistently said our sector primarily trains domestic learners to become the skilled workers needed in virtually every local community from coast to coast.

This means skilled tradespeople to build more housing. Personal support workers to care for our rapidly aging population. Early childhood educators and assistants to support more readily available daycare. These are the kinds of workers regulated career colleges have and will continue to train in this country using a nimble, industry-led approach.

To state the obvious, if regulated career colleges could only operate their post-secondary institutions by subverting our international student system, they would not be in favour of the changes recently announced by Immigration Minister Marc Miller.

But in fact, my members and the regulated career colleges sector support the federal government's efforts to bring stability to the international student program because we recognize all post-secondary stakeholders have a role to play in making the system better. And because, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, our business models are primarily based on training Canadians, not international students — unlike many publicly funded colleges and universities.

What we do not support is sensationalist language designed to scapegoat the regulated career college sector. This language is not just counterfactual and degrading to the 150,000 learners my members graduate into the workforce each year, but a cheap distraction from sound policy-making. Ironically, these accusations are sometimes made by other institutions who themselves have flooded their communities with international students.

Minister Miller and provincial governments should prioritize labour needs as an outcome of their policy changes, and my sector welcomes the opportunity to work directly with provinces on designing innovative training solutions to fill local labour gaps, as we have done for more than 125 years in Canada.

I recently met with Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop, who reiterated the important role regulated career colleges play in training the skilled workers her province needs most, such as when my members trained over 18,000 personal support workers during the pandemic in Ontario and New Brunswick.

I was also encouraged to hear B.C. Premier David Eby state that any federal policy change should factor in the specific skilled labour needs of British Columbia, including truck drivers, nurses and early childhood educators, which simply cannot be met by international graduates of masters and doctoral programs.

One thing most experts and observers agree on is that the current structure of our international student program is unsustainable and requires change. I strongly encourage decision-makers implementing these changes to seize the opportunity to collaborate with the regulated career college sector in good faith and use our expertise in targeted and efficient workforce development to get this right once and for all.

Let's look at the facts, statistics, best practices and trend lines to build a system that meets Canadians' needs, protects students and ensures we train the workforce the economy requires. Let's start taking the high road together, instead of trying to look taller by knocking others down.