By admin (July 30, 2024)
The Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills of British Columbia announced the implementation of new measures aimed at further strengthening the integrity of the province’s international student program.
On the part of the Ministry, new protection and higher standards will be implemented for the provincial Designated Learning Institutions of which the chief element relating to these measures is the Education Quality Assurance code of practice.
The EQA sets out three key objectives in the first is for all public DLIs in B.C. to cap international student enrolment at 30% of total enrolment. This policy will not be applied to private DLIs. Many of B.C.’s 25 public post-secondary institutions already keep the number of international students below this threshold.
Asked if this 30% limit is atop the existing provincial cap based on the number of Provincial Attestation Letters (PAL). The Ministry wouldn’t say but the ministry explained that provincial distribution of PALs should support international student programming at public DLIs.
The Ministry also said that staff would be on hand to assist institutions in adapting student recruitment plans to meet the new target and also in dealing with the financial implications. The strategy towards this threshold was to be constituted within the institution’s international education strategic plans.
An overall allocation for British Columbia in 2024 is 83,000 PALs. Such letters confirm the student’s admission to one of the DLIs in the province and are a new requirement for a study permit to Canada introduced by IRCC in response to a cap on the number of study permits processed over the next two years.
These are granted to the various provinces based on their population size, and British Columbia is the third most popular province in Canada after Ontario and Quebec. At the provincial government level, there is a decision as to how the letters are going to be divided amongst the DLIs. For the year 2024, 53% will be parceled out to the public post-secondary institutions and the remaining, 47% to the private sector.
Moreover, B.C. also requires that DLIs must clearly post tuition fees for the duration of the student’s entire program. This will therefore bring transparency to the prospective student when planning for the total education costs and budgets.
International students contribute massively to Canada’s economy. A report by Global Affairs Canada estimated that international student spending had topped more than $37 billion in 2022. The Statistics of Canada indicates that the average fees charged for international undergraduate students were $38,081 for the academic year. There are 111,900 international students in B.C. public institutions currently.
Another requirement of an institution under the EQA will be to either meet or exceed provincial quality assurance standards. Many of these standards include the creation of international education strategic plans, improvement of student services, provision for housing support, and ensuring that Indigenous and domestic students are not displaced.
These new standards support the International Framework Measures implemented last January, which contained a number of steps including a freeze on the growth of DLIs, enhanced supervision over private institutions, and strengthened compliance and enforcement actions. The province says these new measures represent Phase 2 of the initiative.