The Ford government has announced a new approach to its cap on the number of international students attending Ontario’s colleges and universities as a further tightening of the federal rules trickles down.
The number of places allowed for international students in Ontario is set to decline again in 2025, while more different types of international students will require permission to study in Canada.
“As we have been from the beginning, our government is laser focused on ensuring students in Ontario receive the skills they need to succeed in industries that address our province’s labour market needs,” Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges and Universities, said in a statement.
“In response to this decision by the federal government, we remain steadfast in working with our colleges and universities to deliver an excellent education throughout Ontario.”
Overall, the number of places for international students studying in Ontario will decline by 23 per cent in 2025.
In total, Ontario has received just over 181,000 applications and expects to be able to agree to almost 117,000 study permits for students. That is down from 235,000 applications in 2024, with a target to approve 141,000 study permits.
The cap was first introduced by the federal government in January 2024 and its impacts were distributed to institutions by the provincial governments.
For the coming year, the provincial government said all colleges and universities will receive at least the same number of permits as they used in 2024.
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A senior government source explained the caveat has been added because roughly 100,000 spaces given to institutions in 2024 were wasted. That figure meant just 58 per cent of places were used last year, while 42 per cent did not result in an international student at an Ontario institution.
In light of the wastage, the province now plans to closely monitor how effectively colleges and universities use their spaces.
If by June an institution hasn’t used 50 per cent of the spaces allocated to them, 20 per cent will be taken back by the government. By September, if 50 per cent is still unused, the remaining 30 per cent will be reclaimed.
In that scenario, the government would then plan to redistribute the reclaimed places to colleges and universities that have successfully used the allocations they were given.
The province said it is working to ensure the places that do go to international students at Ontario colleges focus on “high-priority labour market areas” like skilled trade, health-care and child-care workers.
The even tighter federal restrictions, passed down Thursday by the provincial government to colleges and universities, come as the sector faces enormous financial pressure from the loss of international student revenue.
Before the federal cap came into place, colleges drew roughly one-third of their total revenue from international students, with domestic tuition reduced and then frozen by the Ford government early in its mandate.
As international student places have been capped, revenue has declined and many colleges have made cuts. Some public colleges have closed campuses, others have cut courses and more have made layoffs.
The way in which the cap on international students has been introduced, a massive tightening of the rules for graduates to get permanent residency and growing diplomatic tensions with India have all worsened the situation.
Post-secondary sector and government sources both concede those factors combined have massively hit the appeal of studying in Canada and could lead to some Ontario institutions struggling to even hit their reduced allocation of new international students.
The government is in the midst of conducting efficiency reviews of publicly funded colleges and hopes to sign new funding agreements with all 24 institutions by March.
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