Immigration minister criticizes Conestoga for international student strategy
CTV
Immigration Minister Marc Miller had some strong words for Conestoga College at a recent online forum hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller had some strong words for Conestoga College at a recent online forum hosted by Toronto Metropolitan University.
Miller was asked about whether Ontario colleges and universities had developed an unhealthy reliance on international students – who are charged up to five times more in tuitions fees than domestic students.
Miller acknowledged the current system has incentivized institutions to use international students to balance their finances. Then he took aim at one school in particular.
“There is at least one institution in Ontario that had a $100 million positive balance at the end of the year and that, in my mind, isn’t the vocation of a college or university,” he said.
Conestoga reported a $106 million year-end surplus in its most recent annual report.
Miller said he wouldn’t “deny anyone the right to get profit.”
“But you’re doing it on a bunch of people who have sometimes had their family earnings pooled into one person, their hopes and dreams into one person… and have it dashed quickly when they can't get a job or get a crappy education and then have to file for asylum in some of the worst-case scenarios,” he continued.
