Universities in Atlantic Canada worried about big drop expected in foreign students

HALIFAX -

With just over one month before the beginning of the school year, universities in Atlantic Canada are worried about the expected big drop in foreign student enrolment due to caps imposed by the federal government.

In Nova Scotia, the province has issued fewer than 4,000 attestation letters to international students for the upcoming year, out of a possible total of 20,372 study permit applications available to attend the province's universities. The letters are needed as part of a student's permit application to the federal Immigration Department.

However, the number of international students who actually choose to study in the province may be even lower than that. In contrast to the rest of the country, Atlantic Canada has a relatively low conversion rate -- the ratio of students who enrol in programs compared to the number of offers sent.

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Peter Halpin, executive director of the Association of Atlantic Universities, said some of his group's members are worried what effect the enrolment caps and low conversion rates will have on their finances and the diversity of their student bodies.

"We expressed our concern from the outset that this could have a very negative impact on our institutions in Atlantic Canada," Halpin said in an interview.

Halpin didn't, however, name which universities are particularly concerned, only saying that about 30 per cent of students in Atlantic Canadian universities are from outside the country, a percentage higher than in the rest of Canada.

"International students are very important to our universities and our effort to internationalize our campuses and the communities in which they are located," he said.

In March, the federal government capped the number of international admissions after months of pressure to take stronger action against colleges that are believed to be exploiting foreign students, who are charged an average of five times as much as Canadians. The number of foreign student visas had tripled in a decade in Canada to more than one million, exacerbating a severe housing shortage in the country.

The caps were expected to lead to cuts of roughly 35 per cent in international admissions in Nova Scotia, and more in others. Provincial Advanced Education Minister Brian Wong said in late March that the province would be able to distribute 12,900 study permit applications in 2024, but that number was later increased.

Among the province's 32 universities, colleges, private career colleges and language schools, Cape Breton University in Sydney, N.S., and Saint Mary's University in Halifax received the highest allocation for international students; they have 7,086 and 2,760 potential spots respectively. Halifax's Dalhousie University follows in third place, with 1,680 spots available for foreign students.

Halpin said official enrolment figures will be available in October.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2024.