International Students Eh!

Introduction

When I was going to university one of the significant problems that I faced was not being able to enroll in the classes that I needed to take in an order to graduate. For some of my classes I had to wait for two or three semesters until I was finally able to get a seat. I later learned half of the seats were reserved for the international students and the other half were available to the domestic students which was the reason why I as a domestic student had to wait for so long to enroll myself in a class. The other problem was that some of my classes were too crowded. For one of my classes one time we even did not have enough desks. There were some extra chairs in the corner to sit and take the class. I had to go early so I can get myself a desk to sit comfortably for the class. It was not a private university it was a public university. I paid more than enough tuition fee and as a Canadian citizen I pay more than enough tax to deserve a better service than that. 

As much as it was frustrating, one thing that I learned was that the international students face much more stress and frustration than the domestic students. Many international students come to Canada with their own dreams and hopes to build a better future for themselves and contribute billion of dollars to the Canadian economy every year but how Canada has let them down for so many years is disappointing for many of the international students. In this blog I will share with you how much international students contribute to the Canadian economy, the housing crisis that many international students face, not being able to find a job in a field that they have graduated in and what measures the Canadian government has finally put in place to address these issues.

International Students' Contribution To The Economy 

Canada is one of the countries which has highest rate of international students. It brings more international Students than United States and United Kingdom. The academics have been warning for years that it is getting too much but the numbers kept growing. According to one report Canada plans to take 1.4 million international student applications by 2027. The main reason behind this decision is the tuition money. International students pay much higher fee than the domestic students and universities desperately need that money because they are not getting enough funding from the government. Public colleges depend on international students. Some of them generate 90% of their funding from the international students. International students from India alone, in just one province, Ontario pay about two billion dollars to the collages and universities which is more than the colleges and universities are getting from the provincial government. According to the federal government international students contribute 22.3 billion dollars to the Canadian economy per year which is greater than export of auto parts, lumber and aircraft. Some economists argue that the colleges and universities are not providing the quality education to the international students but rather using them as immigration factories to generate more and more profit from them.

Housing Crisis

Canada already has significant housing crisis for its current population. By keep bringing more and more students in and not having a solid plan in place where these students are going to stay, it adds more problem to the current housing crisis. It is not fair to put the housing crisis blame on the students as they are the victims in this case. They are frustrated themselves. Institutions which are accepting international students should provide shelter to them. The Statistics Canada report shows that the international students are more likely to live in unsuitable housing than the domestic students. Many international students also go through tremendous amount of stress as some of the landlords take advantage of the lack of support and provide unhealthy living conditions to them such as, charging high rent, too many students living together to share the rent and not providing clean rooms.

Not Being Able To Find A Job

One significant problem is that too many colleges and universities have brought too many international students in academic programs which do not match the current job market. For instance, institutions have brought far too many international students in business programs than any other field. There are way too many business programs than in demand fields such as health care or IT. When students graduate they are not able to find work and end up doing labor work such as working at fast food restaurants or working as security guards. International students are being used for doing cheap labor however institutions are responsible for this as they use international students as a tool to generate money and not enrolling them in demand programs. 

Furthermore, the institutions have been issuing figures on how many international students are able to get a job after graduation but do not keep a track of if they are working in a field that they studied in. If a student with business diploma is working as a cashier at a fast food restaurant; the institutes count that as a job. The federal government, provinces and educational institutes blame each other for this problem but they cannot deny the fact they all have a shared responsibility. Ultimately the federal government issues the visa. The federal government also has access to the data where these international students are working after graduation but instead of stepping in and questioning why these students are doing cheap labor work after graduation; they have been continuously issuing the visa to the international students.

Measures That The Government Has Put In Place For The Next Two Years 

The federal government is finally addressing the issue. It has concluded that the private colleges are taking advantage of the international students. Some of the points that the government has highlighted are that the private collages are operating campuses which are under resourced, charging high tuition fees and there is a lack of support for the students. The government has put three measures in place for the next two years. 

1: The government put a temporary two-year cap on new international students. The cap is determined by the population of the provinces which means some provinces will have significant reduction in international students.  The provinces will decide how they are going to distribute the cap in colleges and universities that they have jurisdiction over. The cap will not apply to the graduate level of students including masters and PHD students. The cap will also not apply to applicants within Canada who are looking to extend their studies as it wouldn’t be fair to prevent them from finishing the program. It will also not have an effect on students who are currently on study permit in Canada.

2: Applicants will have to provide a provincial attestation with their study permit application. The government will not make the postgraduate work permits available to public and private institutions . 

3: In addition, an open work permit will be allowed and be available to the spouses of international students who are enrolled in master's and/or doctoral programs as well as professional programs such a medicine and law. Spouses of international students who are enrolled in undergraduate and college programs will not be eligible for open work permit.