Unknowns hang over P.E.I. post-secondary schools after federal cap on student permits
CBC
More than a week after the federal government's decision to cut the number of student permits it issues, college and university officials on P.E.I. say they have a lot of questions — but not many answers.
"What do we do now?" said Sandy MacDonald, president of Holland College. "We've already accepted students for next year. How will they be affected?"
MacDonald said many of the international students who make up about 30 per cent of the college's population are disappointed by the new federal policy.
"I think there are some students who feel like they're being blamed," he said, adding that some students are wondering: "Is Canada the place I want to come and study in the future?"
In its announcement last week, the federal government said it will approve about 360,000 undergraduate student permits for 2024 — a 35 per cent cut from last year.
According to Immigration Minister Marc Miller, the cap is intended to cut down on the "hundreds" of schools operating in Canada that accept large numbers of international students on allegedly underresourced campuses.
MacDonald said the federal government should take "strong action" against those sorts of schools, but the cap is making some prospective students second-guess Canada.
"I think we have to be careful on the international stage as we're trying to address the situation."
Miller described the schools being targeted as "the diploma equivalent of puppy mills."
While international students contribute "significantly" to Holland college's bottomline, MacDonald said fewer of them could mean more than just a drop in revenue.
Hypothetically, if the percentage of international students fell by 15 per cent, he said, " it would mean significantly fewer programs for sure."
He said his biggest question at this point is how student permits will be divided among post-secondary schools on the Island — and how many Holland College will get.
Ottawa said each province and territory will be allotted a portion of the total, distributed according to population.
"It's still very much a work in progress," said MacDonald.
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