Canada’s “edugration” model comes under scrutiny
“To move forward, we must recognise international students as a distinct form of migration and recognise the domino effect that occurs when changes are made without genuine consultation,” said Lisa Brunner, postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia.
In the last of a series of parliamentary committee meetings on Canada’s international study program, experts unpacked the sector’s funding dependency on international student fees and the damaged public consensus on immigration, among other issues.
“Ontario universities receive only 21% in federal funding. In the 80s it was nearer 80%,” said Rob Kristofferson, president of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA).
“There’s a lot of differentiation between the provinces and the territories, but in general public funding for higher education has declined across political parties since the 1970s and we know operating grants have not kept pace with inflation,” said Brunner.
“Canadians’ unwillingness to pay for their own higher education system and instead relying on international students to subsidise it is certainly a concern,” she added.
The resulting shortfall has driven the marketisation of Canada’s post-secondary institutions, many of which have come to depend on international student fees as a revenue source.
International students pay nearly six times more than their domestic peers in Ontario, said Kristofferson, highlighting their economic contributions which are greater than the combined value of Canada’s aircraft, lumber, and auto parts industries.
In a new report, Brunner argued that Canada was once a global leader for its successful combination of higher education and immigration, or “edugration”, which is now at a “crossroads”, under increased public scrutiny.
Commenting on the proceedings, stakeholders echoed witnesses’ calls for sustained public investment in higher education, along with greater collaboration and transparency across federal and provincial governments.
“Re-examining how we fund our education systems and how renewed public investment can better support stability, quality, and sustainability plays an important role in any long-term policy approach,” UBC director of global engagement Philipp Reichert told The PIE News.
Canadians’ unwillingness to pay for their own higher education system and instead relying on international students to subsidise it is certainly a concern
Lisa Brunner, UBC
Larissa Strong, director of international at College of the Rockies highlighted the ongoing need to prioritise support systems for international students amid financial challenges.
“As international student numbers plumet and subsequently budgets shrink, it will be increasingly challenging to fund support systems,” she said: “We need to rethink how best to support [their] needs through thoughtful and good practice in a financially friendly way.”
The meeting heard reports of previously “unsustainable” recruitment practices at colleges, primarily in Ontario, leading to overcrowding in student housing and widespread reports of students relying on food banks.
Tying study permits to institutions’ ability to support international students was one possible solution put forward during the proceedings, though questions remain about how this could be implemented across the wide variety of institution types and sizes throughout Canada’s provinces and territories.
The marketisation of education has coincided with the rapid influx of temporary residents to Canada in 2022/23 – the highest population increase since 1957, Brunner pointed out.
The government has since begun restricting immigration to Canada, with international students bearing the brunt of 16 federal policy changes in less than two years, beginning with the implementation of study permit caps in January 2024.
The government’s 2025-27 Immigration Levels Plan, which aims to reduce temporary residents to 5% of Canada’s total population, is forecasted to reduce the country’s GDP by CAN$37bn, Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) employees told the committee.
While acknowledging the connection between immigration and international education, witnesses called for the two to be disentangled as policy files, and advocated for greater transparency and accountability measures across provinces.
For instance, with the allocation of Provincial Attestation Letter (PALs) to institutions the responsibility of provincial governments, their division between public and private colleges has varied by province.
While this ensures a more targeted approach, Strong noted that more transparency in the allocations of PALs across the sector might support the effort for stability and greater policy co-ordination.
During the witness questions, discussions frequently turned to Germany as a successful model of international education in a decentralised federation not unlike Canada.
“In Germany, international students are not charged differential tuition compared to domestic students, and the higher education system is funded much more robustly than in Canada,” said Brunner, adding that the destination was largely attracting international students as immigrants rather than to fund the system.
York University professor Roopa Desai Trilokekar, speaking as an independent witness, also highlighted the success of Germany attracting students without a financial impetus to study there, which she said had led to a more diverse international student cohort.
Reichert welcomed the committee’s willingness to learn from other models – reflecting a recognition “that there is real value examining those lessons in a more structured and sustained way to offer meaningful insights that Canada could adapt and hopefully begin to use in shaping a stronger, more coordinated approach,” he said.
As the sector recovers from nearly two years of diffused and disjointed policy decisions, familiar calls for stability were made by witnesses, with Brunner advocating for a “holistic approach to long-term planning and shared accountability”.
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