Some post-secondary institutions that rely in part on international student revenue to support their educational offering have been hit hard by B.C.’s implementation of Ottawa’s cap on international student study permits.
While the impact has varied institution to institution, some universities are offering fewer courses as they manage lower revenue.
In July, the provincial government limited the population share of international students in public post-secondary institutions to 30 per cent of the total student body.
In addition, international applicants are now also required to request a provincial attestation letter when applying for a student permit. The letter from the province confirms whether there is enough space at a given institution to approve a permit.
The new system is distributing 53 per cent of letters to public post-secondary institutions, and 47 per cent to private ones.
BIV reached out to high-ranking public post-secondary institutions across the province to understand the impact of these new policies.
The University of British Columbia (UBC) and Simon Fraser University stated their international student enrolment levels have not surpassing the province’s mandated 30-per-cent limit. Both said that updated enrolment figures for 2024-25 will be released later this year.
In 2023, international students made up approximately 28 per cent of the student body at UBC’s Vancouver campus, and about 22 per cent of the student population at its campus in the Okanagan.
In total, there were approximately 19,600 international students across both campuses—a figure that has increased by 92 per cent in the last 10 years, according to UBC’s annual 2023-24 enrolment report.
In comparison, the domestic student population grew by only 10.6 per cent in the past decade.
UBC is currently below B.C.’s 30-per-cent threshold and is not anticipating that it will be affected by the cap, according to media relations senior director Matthew Ramsey.
UBC has acquired enough letters of attestation from the province for all qualified applicants, he added.
The provincial requirements are not anticipated to have a direct impact on UBC’s revenue either, and there have not been any changes to programs or courses to deal with the current restrictions, said Ramsey.
In 2023-24, UBC received $657 million from international tuition, which made up 26 per cent of total revenue. Domestic tuition revenue for that year was $400 million—15.9 per cent of total revenue.
Perhaps surprisingly, UBC’s data suggests slightly less dependance on and a steady growth in international student revenue.
For 2024-25, UBC anticipates a 6.5-per-cent increase in international tuition revenue to $700 million, which would account for about 25 per cent of the institution’s total revenue.
Domestic tuition is expected to remain relatively steady for 2024-25, according to UBC’s budget report.
However, there’s no question that policies which directly affect international students are considered by prospective students, who may have opted to not pursue studies in Canada this year.
At SFU, the institution’s international enrollment target is 25 per cent, and government policies have not affected student seats, program offerings or revenue, according to media relations director Michael Russell.
SFU reported having approximately 6,400 international students and 23,700 domestic students enrolled in fall 2023. International students accounted for roughly 21 per cent of the total student body, according to SFU’s 2023 fall international student report.
Within that population, undergraduate international student numbers peaked in 2020 at around 5,450 and has been falling ever since, according to SFU. In 2023, international undergraduate tuition generated around $140 million and made up 44 per cent of all total undergraduate tuition.
Meanwhile, Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) reported an international student enrollment of 36 per cent for the 2023-24 academic year, six per cent above the province’s limit.
About 8,000 international students and 12,800 domestic students were enrolled for the 2022-23 school year. Students from outside of Canada made up 38 per cent of the student body.
During the same time, KPU reported around $128 million in revenue from international tuition, making up 48.7 per cent out of their total $262 million revenue.
Here, the impact seems to be more significant. Due to a heavy reliance on international students, the university is currently budgeting prudently as it receives continuous information on how these restrictions are affecting enrollment, said KPU president and vice-chancellor Dr. Alan Davis in a statement.
“The university is providing alternative workload assignments to faculty teaching in areas experiencing low international student enrolment and a reduction in course sections,” he said.
“Canada has lost its top spot as the most desirable destination, but much work is going on to change that and to diversify the source of new students.”
Though tuition revenues are down, Davis said it’s not as bad as it might have been.
Post-secondary institutions relying heavily on international students will be the most affected by the cap moving forward, especially private ones.
These organizations will continue to evaluate the impacts as their official enrollment numbers for 2024 are released later in the year.
Canada’s welcome mat rolls back
On January 22 of this year, the federal government announced that it would impose a cap on the number of new international students permitted to study in Canada, limiting the number of new permit issuances to approximately 360,000 for 2024.
“In recent years, the integrity of the international student system has been threatened,” read a government release. “Some institutions have significantly increased their intakes to drive revenues, and more students have been arriving in Canada without the proper support they need to succeed.”
Rapid increases in international students have also put pressure on housing, health care and other services, Ottawa added.
The cap represents a 35-per-cent decrease in approved study permits since last year and was made to stabilize growth for two years, according to Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller.
Many were fearful of the far-reaching implications of these caps on Canadian communities, as international students account for about $22 billion a year to the economy, according to Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada.
The weight of these caps varies by province and territory, depending on where international student population growth has been the most “unsustainable.” Students renewing their permits, those pursuing a master or PhD program, or those attending elementary and secondary school are not affected.
On January 29, the provincial government followed up with their own restrictions on post-secondary institutions, banning new colleges from enrolling international students until Feb. 2026 to tackle exploitive practices.
These also included higher standards, minimum language requirements and added tuition transparency at private institutions.
In July, there were approximately 553,000 post-secondary students in the province, including domestic and international students at private and public institutions.
A total of 217,600 were international students, of which 111,900 were enrolled in public institutions, and 105,700 were in private institutions.
—With files from Daisy Xiong
