The president of Georgian College says he’s disappointed with the federal government’s new cap on international student intake.
The cap on the number of study permits is going to be reduced by 35% federally, and reflected by each province’s population.
Based on Ontario’s population, it means that the number of new international students will be reduced by half.
Kevin Weaver, who is the President & CEO of Georgian says that for the school’s seven campuses, international students make up around 50% of their student body.
“This will have an impact to the college, and to the communities we serve. Our international students are a vital part of all of our communities, not only because they study at Georgian College, but because they live and often work in our communities.”
He says he’s also disappointed because students from abroad come to Canada with the hopes and dreams of learning skills and building a life here, and the new cap prevents them from doing so.
“The magnitude of the impact in such short order is really what I’m most disappointed about. We’re still waiting for many answers as to how this is going to play out, particularly within the province and the college sector, so that we can further assess what that means for Georgian College and our seven campuses.”
Weaver says that since the announcement on Monday, there has been an immediate effect on the institution, particularly when it comes to processing applications for the upcoming summer semester.
“There’s an immediate short-term impact. Georgian runs a pretty significant intake in the month of May for our summer semester. Those study programs at this point since the announcement are actually not being processed, so there’s an immediate impact for sure.”
He says that while it’s too early to tell how a lower number of international students may affect the education sector overall, there is a potential for reduced international enrolment into some programs that may lead to those programs being cancelled in the future.
“It’s too early to say yet from a Georgian perspective what all the impacts could look like, whether it’s right away or next year or the year after as we continue to get answers and model it out,” Weaver says. “We benefit particularly from our seven campuses and we pride ourselves in having accessible education and programs across those campuses that often rely on domestic and international students to make a sustainable cohort so that we can continue to run those programs. And anything that would reduce enrolment starts to put some of those programs in jeopardy. This isn’t just about top-level numbers. These are people. These are our students. There is an impact in the classroom, to the college, and to our communities.”
