Canada's international student spike was blamed on private colleges. Here's what really happened

Documents obtained by CBC News reveal which colleges and universities account for the greatest share of Canada's steep growth in international students, and which now have the most to lose from a new cap on permits to study in this country.

The data, obtained through access to information requests to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), shows the number of study permits granted each year since 2018 for foreign students to attend post-secondary institutions across the country.

The figures have never before been made fully available to the general public. See the data for yourself at the bottom of this story.

A CBC News analysis of the data reveals that what has been framed as a nationwide explosion in international student numbers — prompting Ottawa to impose an immediate two-year cap — is disproportionately linked to a handful of schools, the vast bulk of them public institutions, predominantly in Ontario.

The data calls into question claims by both federal and provincial politicians blaming "bad actors" among private colleges for fuelling the spike in international students. 

The data also shines a light on what experts say was really driving Canada's dramatic rise in foreign student enrolment: Governments of all stripes actively pursuing international students both to shore up the skilled workforce and to bring hefty revenues into underfunded colleges and universities, with little regard for the ensuing demand for housing.

"It's a cash cow," said Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer and policy analyst in Vancouver. "Each student likely generates at least $20,000 for an educational institution, and we're talking about thousands and thousands of students."

Over the six-year period covered by the data, more than 1.5 million study permits were issued for students to attend some 1,300 colleges and universities.

That translates into international students paying tens of billions of dollars into Canada's post-secondary system — at a time when provincial governments were imposing austerity measures on public universities and colleges.

In Ontario, the data shows foreign students recruitment has spiked significantly since 2018, when Premier Doug Ford took office.

The following year, Ford's government froze post-secondary funding, cut domestic tuition by 10 per cent and launched a program explicitly designed to attract international students and their lucrative tuition fees to public colleges.

Ontario's public colleges alone accounted for more than 40 per cent of the 435,000 study permits issued to colleges and universities nationwide in 2023.

The growth in Ontario in recent years has been "explosive and reckless," said Earl Blaney, an immigration consultant and advocate for international students in London, Ont.

"I'm shocked that it's got to this state," Blaney said after CBC News showed him the data. "The problem is everyone else has been clapping along, because everyone's making a ton of money off this."