Hello, and thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
OCUFA seeks a sustainably funded university system that educates the best and the brightest. This does not mean using international students as ATMs.
OCUFA has supported the decision to impose restrictions on the number of international students admitted to Canadian post-secondary institutions, but we hold that improvements can be made to ensure that the international students Canada accepts are supported to thrive.
Better coordination between the federal and provincial governments on this issue is needed. The study permit restrictions were suddenly imposed, leaving the universities and provinces to scramble. We need predictable, coordinated policy to allow for long-term planning, not reactive shifts.
Universities aggressively pursued international students, not because of a lack of domestic students but because they needed revenue. International students have not taken away seats from domestic students; they have supported the education of additional domestic students. Ontario caps the number of funded domestic students, but many universities go above these caps to educate more domestic students. International tuition revenue has effectively subsidized the education of these unfunded domestic students. In Ontario, international students pay nearly six times the domestic tuition average. This means that nearly six domestic students are needed to equal the tuition revenues of one international student.
International students enhance the vibrancy of our classrooms, support the development of valuable intercultural competencies among all students, provide this country with global talent—and yes, they do bring money. The federal government's 2019-2024 “International Education Strategy” noted that “educational expenditures by international students have a greater impact on Canada’s economy than exports of auto parts, lumber or aircraft.” The decisions made by the government on this issue will have major economic implications.
Already we are seeing the consequences of the permit restrictions. Universities are increasingly cutting or pausing programs, and large numbers of contract academic faculty are finding that their contracts are simply not being renewed. Many other staff are being laid off or are being offered voluntary retirement incentives.
This is a concern for local economies, because universities are major employers. In Oshawa, educational services are the third-largest employment category. This is larger than the auto industry. As a representative of the Canadian Automotive Museum put it recently, Oshawa is a university town. In times of economic uncertainty, universities play an important dual role as major sources of employment and as avenues for training and reskilling Canadian workers.
OCUFA encourages the government to link any potential changes to the number of permits available to the ability of institutions to properly support international students. Any increases to the number of international students should be tied to the availability of student housing and student services, with universities required to show that they can provide these supports.
The restrictions on study permits were motivated by so-called “bad actors”. These bad actors were primarily outside the university sector. They were international recruiting agents, whose compensation depends on volume rather than quality, as well as private educational providers. OCUFA shares the government's concerns about these actors.
In Ontario, OCUFA fights against private providers that do not properly support international students. We are at the forefront of opposing Navitas, which offers privatized first-year university education. Navitas students use public university facilities, but they do not always have full access to the wraparound services that universities provide.
Faculty have also resisted partnerships with private universities that target international students with non-degree programs that have little currency in the labour market. When Algoma University pursued such a partnership with the private Yorkville University, Algoma faculty led a vote of non-confidence in Algoma's president.
In summation, OCUFA calls for additional long-term predictability around study permit numbers that is built on the effective coordination of provincial and federal governments. Any upward revisions to the number of available study permits should be tied to the ability of institutions to support these students via appropriate housing, student services and program quality. Stringent quality standards will ensure that international students are properly supported and provided with high-quality education.
Thank you.