Immigration Minister Jason Kenney confirmed that plans to expedite permanent residency applications through CEC, first announced last Spring, would come into effect from January. Applicants will be required to have half as much work experience as they currently do, down from 24 to 12 months, and given more time to earn it – 36 as opposed to 24 months.

Geoff Wilmshurst, director of international at Camosun College, Victoria, said the pledge was welcome for overseas recruiters. “Canada’s new immigration policies targeting post-secondary students have had a very positive impact on student recruitment to Canada in my opinion.

“Changes to the Canadian Experience Class is a definitely a continuation of the good news story”

“Parents, students and agents have been very aware of the CEC programme and I think it has resulted in the recent movement of Canada up the charts as a preferred destination.”

The CEC reforms are designed to tackle the impact of skills shortages and an ageing population on Canada’s labour market, and will be particularly valued in markets such as India, where post-study work and residency rules strongly influence student decision making.

They also follow other attractive immigration reforms such as the introduction of the one to three year postgraduate work permit in 2007 and the Student Partner Programme in 2011 (which was piloted in India). “Changes to the foreign worker category under the Canadian Experience Class is a definitely a continuation of the good news story,” Ganga D Dandapani, VP of marketing at Indian agency Canam Consultants, told The PIE News.

Others however have urged caution about these and other measures that might increase inflows too quickly (under ambitious proposals for a national strategy on international education, overseas enrolments could double within 10 years to more than 500,000).

Speaking to CBC this week, Naomi Alboim of the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, warned the CEC pledge would send a message that education was an easy route to immigration and promote visa fraud.

“[It’s] not to say that all recruiters are bad, but we’ve reached a level where the federal government is stepping in”

Internal coordinator for the Canadian Federation of Students, Brent Farrington, also warned that complaints about unscrupulous agents and providers were increasing as numbers climbed. He pointed to new federal government proposals that would require provinces to identify institutions they think should be allowed to host international students; education agents would also have to be government registered.

“[It’s] not to say that all recruiters are bad, but we’ve reached a level where the federal government is stepping in,” he said.

Such fears will for now remain on the periphery given the strong governmental and sectoral support for growth. Reflecting the mood, Wilmshurst said: “The Federal Government will need to monitor the results of an acceleration of student immigrants especially with regard to employment opportunities. In general, however, Canada is well equipped to handle an increase of immigrants from this sector and it is a welcome change in direction in immigration policy by the government.”