New federal cap on foreign student permits raising concerns on P.E.I.

The federal government's decision to cap how many international student permits are issued over the next two years — and the "aggressive" tone in which it was delivered Monday — has students and post-secondary institutions on P.E.I. wondering how it will affect them.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said that in 2024, Ottawa will approve about 360,000 undergraduate study permits, which represents a 35 per cent reduction from 2023, in an effort to help ease the nationwide housing crisis.

"We've got two years to actually get the ship in order," Miller said.

"It's a bit of a mess and it's time to rein it in." 

Provinces and territories will be left to decide how permits are distributed among universities and colleges in their jurisdictions. On P.E.I., that includes the University of Prince Edward Island, Holland College and the French-language Collège de l'Île.

At Charlottetown-based UPEI, almost all the growth in enrolment since 2017 has been as a result of the increasing proportion of international students. This year, 35 per cent of the undergraduate and graduate student body is made up of people from outside of Canada.

It's become a big source of money for the university — $18 million in student fees alone last year, accounting for 11 per cent of all university revenue, not counting the tuition fees international students also pay.

Nobody from the UPEI administration was made available for an interview about the changes on Monday. 

At Holland College locations across the province, the international student body represents about 30 per cent of enrolment.

In a news release, Miller said the changes are necessary "to protect a system that has become so lucrative that it has opened a path for its abuse. Enough is enough."

Holland College president Sandy MacDonald said the tone of the release surprised him, though he is confident Miller was not referring to any institutions on P.E.I. when he spoke of "abuse." 

"It was quite aggressive and clearly the federal government's unhappy," MacDonald said.

"It seems to me that the federal government's efforts are aimed at those institutions and those areas that are seemingly taking advantage of the situation — and I don't think our province is doing that at all."

MacDonald said he's optimistic P.E.I. will get a fair allocation of permits, but noted that any cuts would be felt. The international population has made a "significant impact" on the college's culture, he said, but it also helps the bottom line.