Yes, in terms of looking at the trends and the experiences prepandemic versus throughout this pandemic period, there are some notable differences. As I mentioned in my opening comments, from a processing standpoint, given public health measures and limitations in being able to access visa processing centres and supporting documentation, we saw a slowing down and, in fact, a halting of the processing of those applications in the early days of the pandemic. There has been an effort to ramp it up since that time.
Based on the numbers that we are seeing, our international education sector has recovered in the overall numbers that we saw prepandemic, at the end of 2019.
From that perspective, we are very much encouraged. However, as I mentioned, half a million who have applied through those processes have been rejected since 2016.
I concur with my colleagues, Paul and Francis. There is more work operationally to be done to clear those pathways, address some of those issues and perhaps unpack any systemic issues that may be standing in the way of that.
With respect to the tuition fees, yes, this is an area of sensitivity. We have been working with institutions, not only in trying to think about those talent pipelines and ways in which we could move students into the Canadian context, but trying to be sensitive in the ways in which the value of that Canadian education is positioned.
I can share with you CBIE's most recent international student survey. In December 2019, it received 40,000-plus international student responses from those who are currently in Canada. They continue to cite the high quality of the Canadian education system as one of the most desirable elements—