The impact on Okanagan College of new visa restrictions for international students imposed by both the provincial and federal governments is still being worked out.
Neil Fassina, president of Okanagan College, said the college is in full support of ethical requirements for accepting international students and ensuring those students get the education accreditation they are seeking.
“The support and fair treatment of our international students is a fundamental and essential element of how Okanagan College acts and behaves…that has always been our starting point,” Fassina said.
That is exemplified by the college’s support network in place for international students from the moment they apply for an OC program, and throughout their matriculation through to graduation.
“We pride ourselves on the quality and transparency of our programs that attract international students,” he said.
Fassina’s comments come in the wake of an announcement in Ottawa last week by Immigration Minister Marc Miller, saying international student visas will be capped this year, meaning 360,000 students from abroad will be granted study permits this year, a 35 per cent reduction from last year.
In provinces with a higher proportion of international students, such as B.C. and Ontario, the reduction could come closer to 50 per cent.
The intent of the cap is to crack down on unscrupulous private colleges that market themselves internationally as reputable schools but, when students arrive from their home country, discover the campus consists of an office in a strip mall and classes that are mostly online.
On the flip side, some students are also reported to be getting a visa and then going to work rather than school once they reach Canada, and some have pointed a finger at the rise in international students for placing stress on rental home availability.
The federal government identifies about 280 private colleges and universities, the vast majority of which are located in the Lower Mainland.
On Monday, provincial Post-Secondary Education Minister Selena Robinson said new international student limitation tools will be put in place, the goal being to create set criteria that private colleges have to increase transparency around the level of education they’re delivering.
The province will pause approvals for two years, until February 2026, of new post-secondary institutions seeking to enrol international students, impose more frequent inspections of private post-secondary institutions to ensure quality standards are being met, higher standards for private degree programs, new minimum language requirements for private institutions, and more tuition transparency costs for public post-secondary institutions.
These new standards will give Robinson’s ministry the power to control how many international students can be enrolled at each college or university, regardless of whether they’re public or private.
Fassina said what those numbers will be and the trickle-down effect on the college is still unknown.
“How the changes impact us, from a numbers standpoint, are still not yet determined at this point,” he said.
Okanagan College has an enrolment of about 2,000 international students, about 14 per cent of its student enrolment.
“Historically most of those students were at the Kelowna campus but over the last five to eight years, we have actually seen proportionately more growth from the standpoint of international student population at our Penticton and Salmon Arm campuses,” Fassina said.
He said from the outset, OC’s policy has been to control the cost of international students on a break-even basis, and not as a profit vehicle to counter shortfalls in provincial funding as has been the case with other post-secondary institutions.
“We want all our students, domestic and international, to succeed. We bring students here to offer them amazing learning opportunities and learn skills that will give them the opportunity to enter labour market roles in their regions,” he said.
While tuition fees charged to international students cover the college’s costs to offer them a desired education pathway, Fassina notes it also allows the college to offer additional programs that otherwise could not be offered to domestic students due to limited enrolment.
“It helps to create volume enrolment in certain programs that otherwise might struggle. That is not subsidizing or displacing other students, but being able to offer more viable, broad program offerings,” he said.
He added the presence of international students also adds to the educational experience for all students on the OC campuses across the Okanagan Valley.
According to the province, there were 176,160 international students in post-secondary institutions in 2021-22, the most recent period for which those statistics are available.
Of those, 81,545 were attending public post-secondary schools and 94,615 were attending private post-secondary schools.
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