Colleges blindsided by order to halt new international activities

Three weeks after the province delivered a moratorium on all new “international activities” for colleges, it’s still unclear what that means for Ontario’s 24 colleges — including Algonquin.

In an Aug. 16 letter to college presidents, then-colleges minister Jill Dunlop said she was suspending all new college international activities effective immediately, pending a review of a ministerial binding directive on entrepreneurial activities.

Colleges must not enter into any new contracts or arrangements related to the delivery of post-secondary education and training outside of Canada, whether directly or through an existing subsidiary, said Dunlop, who was named Ontario’s new education minister the same day the memo was sent, following the abrupt resignation of Todd Smith.

The moratorium includes establishing branch campuses, curriculum licensing agreements or development arrangements, corporate training contracts or incorporating new subsidiaries. Student recruitment and research partnerships are not included. Existing international activities can continue, but can’t expand, said the memo.

In a statement, Algonquin said it’s seeking clarity from the province on what may be affected.

“A moratorium on international activities is another challenge to the reputation and financial sustainability of Ontario’s college sector,” said Algonquin president and CEO Claude Brulé.

Algonquin declined to provide details of what international activities it has ongoing, what projects it has in the pipeline and how much revenue its current activities generate. However, the college did confirm that it was engaged in offshore program delivery in partnership with Ningbo Polytechnic in China and has an offshore college in Kuwait.

Dunlop’s memo has blindsided the province’s colleges said Ken Steele, a consultant in higher education strategic planning. Right now, some of the success stories in the college sector are about projects in China, he said.

“Someone has obviously ruffled some feathers at Queen’s Park. Somebody has triggered something, whether it’s a partnership or some private actor that wants a piece of the transnational business,” said Steele.

Ontario’s colleges have been hit with setbacks numerous times in recent years, including the announcement in January that the federal government was setting an intake cap on international student permit applications for two years. Provincial caps have been weighted by population, resulting in much more significant decreases in provinces where the growth has been least sustainable, including Ontario.

Activities abroad have been an opportunity for colleges to generate revenue, said Steele. There are a number of questions that remain, including whether colleges can maintain their existing international activities or try to grow them organically.

“Doug Ford’s government has been encouraging them to do this,” he said. “It contradicts the assumptions I had about the government expecting colleges to be entrepreneurial.”

Until there’s more clarity, it will be up to the colleges to figure out how to overcome shortfalls, including appealing to non-traditional students such as mature learners and micro-credentialling, said Steele.

“I think we’ll see a lot of belt-tightening, which means a lot of labour disruption.”

According to the blue ribbon panel report on financial sustainability for the province’s postsecondary sector released last November, Ontario’s funding per college student was $6,891 in 2021-22, about 44 per cent of the figure for the rest of Canada.

Colleges and universities have come to rely more and more on international student tuition fees to the point where the revenue from this source is fundamental to the sector’s financial sustainability. “This increased reliance raises the postsecondary institutions’ risk exposure,” said the report.

“It’s not a secret that the Ford government has been squeezing colleges and universities,” said Martin Lee, second vice-president of OPSEU Local 415, Algonquin’s faculty union.

“Ontario continues to fund us to the lowest amount of any province in Canada, at 40 per cent of the average of the nation. Less than half of Ontario Colleges have an academic librarian, and many of them have now outsourced all counselling services,” said Lee.

“The Ford government needs to recognize that the reason for these ventures is their own lack of support for education.”

The binding policy directive under review establishes the conditions under which the activities may occur, including the necessary reporting requirements and the need for ministerial approval in certain cases.

Under the 2003 policy directive, the activities of the subsidiary corporation must be consistent with the education and training mandate of colleges and contribute to the significant achievement of the strategic directions that a college has established. They must not exceed or conflict with that of the college and the core businesses of the college and public funding must be protected through appropriate limitations on the college’s liability for the subsidiary’s business endeavours.

In 2016, Algonquin announced that its board of governors had directed senior management to transfer the responsibility of a controversial campus in Saudi Arabia that offered two-year diploma programs only to men back to authorities in Saudi Arabia. The school, which opened in 2013, had lost $1.6 million.

The review of the policy directive will likely take place in early 2025, said Dunlop, who recognized that colleges’ international activities generate revenue that helps support colleges’ operations in Ontario.

“While this work is ongoing, it is essential that colleges focus on their core mandate of delivering postsecondary education and training to meet the needs of Ontarians and support the economic and social development of their local communities,” said Dunlop.

“This is just one more nail in the coffin,” said Steele. “We’ve slipped from first place to fifth place in terms of attractiveness as a destination. This just worsens the situation. Canada is losing momentum. I think we’re going to fall behind.”