35 per cent drop in P.E.I.
Holland College president says timetable ‘completely turned upside down’
A federal cap on international student visas will mean Prince Edward Island will see an enrolment of 2,000 new international post-secondary students in 2024, roughly 35 per cent less than the previous year.
P.E.I. Advanced Learning Minister Jenn Redmond announced the news in the legislature on March 7 and said the figure was reached following negotiations with the federal government after it placed a cap on international student visas in January. Redmond also said the province will implement a process to provide an attestation letter for each international student approved by the province’s three main post-secondary institutions – College de L’ile, Holland College and UPEI.
NUMBERS DROP
The province’s cap of 2,000 international student visas is a drop from the 3,075 international study permits that were granted to P.E.I. students in 2023.
Redmond said the allocation would mean College de L’ile will have an allotment of 105 visas this year while Holland College will be granted 710 and UPEI will be granted 1,185.
There were 1,995 international students enrolled qt UPEI and 810 enrolled at Holland College in 2023.
“We know that this federal decision has a direct impact on our Island academic institutions. And we are working within the parameters of it,” Redmond told MLAS.
Redmond also said the province would be required to provide an attestation letter to new international student applicants, which will be required before the student receives their permit from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Once a post-secondary institution accepts a student, the school will then need to confirm this information with the provincial government. The province will then
“We know that this federal decision has a direct impact on our Island academic institutions. And we are working within the parameters of it.”
P.E.I. Advanced Learning Minister Jenn Redmond
provide an attestation to the college or university to provide back to the student.
The student will then need this attestation letter to obtain their study permit.
Redmond said staffers in her department are working on establishing this new process.
“Our learners – current and future – must continue to have the access to high-quality education opportunities here on the Island,” Redmond said.
Ottawa announced in January that there would be a national cap of 360,000 students. Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the cap was necessary due, in part, to the impact that private colleges were having on housing in the country.
Despite this, an analysis by CBC found the biggest growth in international student numbers since 2018 has been driven primarily by public colleges and universities based primarily in Ontario.
‘TURNED UPSIDE DOWN’
Holland College president Sandy Macdonald was critical of the federal government’s decision to cap international student numbers.
He said aside from the budgetary impact it might have on colleges and universities, he said it could also impact the labour market.
"There's a lot of retail operations, bars, hotels, NGOS, senior citizen homes that rely on our international students for part-time work. There won't be as many of those people available," Macdonald said in an interview with Saltwire on March 7.
"There are some hidden consequences here."
He said the college has made an effort to keep enrolment of international students below 30 per cent of the total student population. He said there were 810 new international students enrolled in 2023.
Macdonald said he was concerned the cap could mean the college enrols even fewer than its allotment of 710. He said the concern comes down to the “conversion rate” of accepted applicants to students who actually attend the college.
"For every 10 confirmations that we send out, we get between 25 and 34 per cent back in terms of a person in a seat,” Macdonald said.
"The problem is the federal governments says, 'we think your conversion rate is more like 60 per cent.”
Macdonald also said that in an ordinary year, the college would have issued most of its acceptance letters by now. But the visa cap means many of the students already accepted for study this fall may not get a visa.
“Our timetable has been completely turned upside down," Macdonald said.