Colleges will be required to provide guaranteed housing for international students

On the heels of the federal government capping international student visas, Ontario is introducing its own changes designed to protect students.

It includes pausing new partnerships between publicly funded colleges and private schools, and ensuring students have access to housing. 

The Ministry of Colleges and Universities announced today that it is introducing new measures to tackle the challenges that have arisen from a recent spike in international students. 

"The challenges stemming from the recent spike in students coming to Canada, including predatory practices by bad-actor recruiters, misinformation regarding citizenship and permanent residency, false promises of guaranteed employment, and inadequate housing for students, require immediate attention and collaborative action,” said Jill Dunlop, Minister of Colleges and Universities, in a news release.

“At the same time, we need to strengthen the links between Ontario’s labour market needs and the programs being offered to students so we can get even more people into rewarding careers in health care and the skilled trades.”

The changes include reviewing programs post-secondary schools offer that have a "sizeable amount" of international students, ensuring programs meet the needs of the labour market, and putting a moratorium on new public college-private partnerships until oversight mechanisms are strengthened.

New measures will also require all colleges and universities to have guaranteed housing options for incoming international students. 

Locally, Conestoga College only has 900 residential units and admitted close to 30,000 international students last year alone. 

In a previous interview with CambridgeToday, Cambridge MP Bryan May noted that housing options for the school was one of their biggest issues. 

"Even if you were to offer the 900 units to the international students there's still almost 29,000 students without housing and this doesn't even count the domestic students," May said. 

Conestoga College did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new provincial measures when asked Friday.

According to the province, new oversight measures will also include enhanced data management, documentation process and making sure there's a timely response to concerns and complaints.

On Monday, Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a cap on the number of international students that can get visas and changed the rules concerning post-graduation work permits (PGWP) — students who begin study through public-private college partnership programs as of September will not be eligible.

The cap — 360,000 approvals for 2024, divvied up between provinces on the basis of population — will result in a 50 per cent decrease in permits in Ontario, which accepts by far the most international students, compared to 35 per cent overall. Current permit holders and those seeking master’s and doctoral degrees will not be included in the cap.

Ontario says it will work with the federal government and other partners to "further crack down on bad-actor recruiters who take advantage of international students and make dubious claims of employment and citizenship."

Conestoga College having admitted nearly 30,000 international students in 2023, faced criticism for not providing enough housing and other supports, saying the timeline to meet the federal cap is too short.  

"The college is a leader in providing high-quality international student experiences, and we are concerned about what the announcement will mean for students and local employers in the eight communities we serve," Conestoga previously said in an unattributed statement sent to CambridgeToday. 

"We worry the timelines for such substantive changes are too short to engage in the kind of meaningful consultation we need."

The school also noted that the abrupt change has caused a "great deal of uncertainty" within the school as the fall 2024 recruitment is already well underway.

Conestoga is also currently undergoing a $180 million expansion to their skilled trades campus in order to offer more programs to international students. 

- With files from The Trillium