Dr. David Sylvester desires more nuance in the media coverage and public discourse about the 45-per-cent drop in foreign student enrolment at postsecondary institutions in 2024-25 reported by Universities Canada earlier this month.

The President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St. Michael’s College, which is federated with the University of Toronto, said press outlets "continue to focus on international students with an economic-only perspective.”

Alluding to the intake cap on international student permit applications introduced by the federal government this past January, Sylvester said the reportage is heavily centring on the risks to the financial calculus while ignoring the cross-cultural learning dimensions of this situation.

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“This is about student exchange, research opportunities and understanding,” said Sylvester, who has served nearly a quarter century as a Canadian university and college president. “When universities in Canada got involved in international education maybe 25 years ago, the whole conversation was about cultural enrichment. Canadian universities typically didn't send international students abroad as European, and even American universities did.

“And so, the whole framing of internationalization from day one at Universities Canada was about how we understand the world,” continued Sylvester. “By having students in the classrooms and having Canadians go abroad and having international students here.”

Sylvester noted that St. Mike’s “has a significant number of international students to no economic benefit.” He added that he was selected to serve on Universities Canada’s International Committee because of his advocacy for culturally immersive higher education experiences.

However, Sylvester shared that the student cap coupled with provincial funding policies does create a difficult monetary landscape for institutions.

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“It will impact the universities given the funding frameworks that exist,” said Sylvester. “It will impact the reputation of Canada internationally, which had a great reputation internationally. Now it's been challenged because, in one clean sweep, we've indicated that international students may not be welcome. It's not because of how the universities have been behaving.”

Tracy Cunningham, enrolment director and registrar for King’s University College, affiliated with Western University in London, Ont., said the school is looking at a “20-per- cent decrease in international enrolment” as 676 foreign students were registered in 2023-24 compared to 540 this autumn.

Cunningham said Ontario post-secondary institutes, in particular, are contending with operational challenges because of the ongoing tuition freeze since 2019 — extended until at least 2026-27 by the provincial government — and significant grant cuts.

“When funding isn’t working optimally, you are leaving institutions to try and find a way to continue to function and operationalize business,” said Cunningham. “The international recruiting landscape has grown significantly over the past 20 years because of chronic underfunding. When you start to see these large budgets coming through it is very difficult to walk away from that.

“The (federal) government has basically taken an axe to everything instead of using a scalpel to look at international recruitment,” added Cunningham. “To paint every institution with the same brush has been a great challenge, especially for institutions that have been very responsible and strategic in making internationalization a part of their overall campus environment.”

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Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) of Canada Marc Miller stated the government’s intent in January of cracking down on “diploma mills” — entities that sell academic degrees but do not provide legitimate academic experiences nor buttress pupils with adequate support or resources. 

The forecasted 45 per cent drop reported by Universities Canada indicated that the outcome ended up being more substantial than the stated goal of 35 per cent. Gabriel Miller, president of Universities Canada, told media outlets that the final tally will be announced in October. The percentage drop could even surpass 45 per cent.