Private schools selected for international study permits
Province holding 10,000 applications for flight centres, language schools, religious universities
Flight centres and religious universities are among the private schools that have been allocated a small number of international student study permits by the province.
With the federal government limiting the number of foreign students, leaving the provinces to sort out how to divvy them up, the Ontario government said it would set aside 96 per cent of applications for public colleges and universities, and the remaining four per cent — or 10,000 — for private universities, language schools and others.
A number of the schools provide training for in-demand sectors, and the language schools, in some cases, help prepare students to move on to programs in the public college system.
The largest recipient was Yorkville University, with two campuses in Greater Toronto, which received 5,154 applications (the number of actual permits will be smaller, depending on who ultimately enrols and how many students immigration officials approve). A distant second was International Business University with 127.
Also on the list is Canada Christian College, run by the controversial Charles McVety — the vocal social conservative preacher who opposed a revamp of the provincial sex-ed curriculum amid accusations against him of homophobia, and whose bid to get the school upgraded to a university was rejected by the provincial post-secondary assessment board.
Among the other schools receiving permits are Brampton Flight Centre, Durham Flight Centre Inc., Toronto Airways Inc., The Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, University of Niagara Falls Canada, Redeemer University, St. Philip’s Seminary, Tyndale University and Kaplan International Languages.
Most of the schools included are allowed to grant post-graduation work permits under federal government rules, which is why they were included. All permit allocations were based on previous years.
“In response to the federal government’s cap on the number of study permit applications issued to international students over the next two years, Ontario has taken a fair, transparent and data-driven approach to allocating applications to the province’s post-secondary institutions,” said Liz Tuomi, press secretary and senior communications adviser to Colleges and Universities Minister Jill Dunlop.
“Through this approach, the provincial government is protecting the integrity of Ontario’s post-secondary education system and prioritizing public post-secondary programs to help prepare graduates for in-demand jobs that support Ontario’s labour market needs.”
In January, Ottawa decided to clamp down on the surge of international enrolment amid a worsening affordable housing crisis and imposed a two-year cap on the number of new study permits issued for each province. Last month, Ontario revealed it was given 235,000 study permit applications.
The province did not provide any permits to public-private college partnerships, which have been blamed as the reason for the huge influx of international students and resulting housing crunch. The quality of those programs had come under fire, with some classes being delivered in strip malls, leading the federal immigration minister to refer to them as “puppy mills.”
But those partnerships were lucrative for public colleges and universities, helping shore up funding as COVID-19, salary increases and inflation have impacted their budgets, and the loss is hitting particularly hard amid an ongoing tuition freeze in Ontario.
Outside of Greater Toronto, publicly assisted colleges including Kitchener-based Conestoga College, Fanshawe College in London and Windsor’s St. Clair College have received the largest number of international student application spots from the province — 19,885, 16,752 and 10,753, respectively.
While small public colleges outside of Greater Toronto — especially those in Northern Ontario — are said to be harmed more by federal rules to discontinue issuing postgraduation work permits for graduates from the public-private college partnerships, a spokesperson for St. Clair said he’s not been part of or aware of any discussion of merging and closing campuses involving his college.
At Queen’s Park, NDP Leader Marit Stiles said fewer foreign students, combined with insufficient funding from the provincial government, will lead to cutbacks and, potentially, schools shutting down.
“This is going to negatively impact a lot of communities, a lot of small towns that rely on their colleges and universities,” she said. “How are they going to continue to meet the needs of the community, as well as the province, to produce the workers that they need to produce?”
Algoma is the only public university to see a decline in study permit applications from 2023, but the school said it is in good financial shape and the change aligns with its strategic plan to moderate growth from this year onwards.
“While we recognize the potential impact of the two-year cap on international study permits, this adjustment will not impact our students in Brampton, Sault Ste. Marie or Timmins,” said Mohamed El Kahlout, a spokesperson for Algoma, which has been allotted with 3,038 study permit applications by the province.
“It is not expected to impact Algoma University’s staffing levels. We remain committed to providing a high-quality and caring university experience for our students across all campuses.”
The university’s Brampton campus, established in 2009, is the only university in the municipality and offers both bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, and attracts a lot of international students. El Kahlout said Algoma will continue to grow its Brampton campus infrastructure, programs and support services to meet the needs of the community.