Vice President of Membership, Public Policy and Communications at the Canadian Bureau for International Education, Jennifer Humphries helps to break down some of the new education regulations affecting the international education sector in Canada.
The PIE: There have been a lot of new regulations in recent months for Canada’s international education sector – it must be a challenge for institutions to navigate them all!
JH: It is fraught with challenges for the institutions – private, public, post-secondary, secondary and so on – and certainly for the associations. However, from the students’ perspective, there may not be that much of a visible change.
Some of the changes in the regulations are really positive, like the immediate access to a work permit without having to wait or to go through another process, and without having to pay an added fee.
Proportionally you’re looking at 60-70% of students who will access the benefit of immediate access to a work permit
The PIE: Increasing access to immediate work permits seems like a huge advantage over your competitors.
JH: It’s a huge advantage, yes. It’s limited to students who are doing college and university certificate, diploma or degree programmes. But that’s a huge segment of the international students coming to Canada, so proportionally you’re looking at 60-70% of students who will access this benefit. Off-campus work opportunities were already a major point in Canada’s favour as a destination and this reinforces it.
The PIE: But new regulations have also created headaches for universities, especially mandates allowing only registered consultants to give visa advice.
JH: This legislation, which came into force two and a half years ago, initially didn’t seem to involve educational institutions at all. Now it does, and it impedes international student advisors (ISAs) and student services offices from providing the types and scope of advice that they used to. Primarily they were advising about study permit renewal times or how to get an off-campus work permit – student issues only.
We are working with government and the regulatory authority to find a way that ISAs can continue to provide essential student-oriented services
But ISAs also have sensitivity to what the students’ academic career is like: would they be able to succeed in doing five courses at the same time as working off campus? Or if they drop a particular course, would they graduate when they thought they would? That’s where ISAs really excel, and if they can no longer do that – which many schools can’t because the ISAs, by and large, are not registered consultants [Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs)] – then there’s a gap. This can be overcome through engaging a lawyer or a registered consultant, but they may not have the awareness of the academic aspects or the social integration aspects of the student’s life.
We are working with government and the regulatory authority to find a way that ISAs can continue to provide essential student-oriented services, and we are encouraged by recent developments.
The PIE: What are the alternatives CBIE has suggested?
JH: What we have proposed to CIC and to the regulatory body is that we work collaboratively to develop a more streamlined programme that would focus on the student needs. Our primary concern is that international student advisors in educational institutions across Canada can get access to a training programme that allows them to give appropriate student immigration information. It could be everything from the initial study permit, post-study work permit, biometrics – all the things that relate to getting the study permit and being a student in Canada, but no further. They would not cover asylum, permanent residence and citizenship issues, for example.
These regulatory projects protect the student and protect Canada’s reputation but doing that in a way that doesn’t turn off the tap is critical
We’re optimistic that we can come up with a streamlined solution because the government and all of the sector are keen to ensure that Canada stays a competitive, helpful host country for international students. The idea behind these regulatory projects is to protect the student and to protect Canada’s reputation. All to the good, but doing that in a way that doesn’t turn off the tap is critical.
The PIE: What do the new provincial designation regulations mean for lists of private ESL providers?
JH: If they’re not designated, they can no longer receive students on a study permit. At many private ESL schools, students want to come for a full year programme; it doesn’t make sense to come on a temporary resident visa which is only valid for six months.
The PIE: What will happen if any provinces aren’t ready when the bill comes into effect on June 1?
JH: CIC will still provide study permits to students at public post-secondary institutions, but not to those at any private colleges. If they’re not ready, there could be a hiatus for some of those institutions, which would be really unfortunate.
CIC in fact started a process quite some time ago, asking for designation lists, and they have received a lot and are processing them. So they think they’ll be ready on June 1. That’s very good. It doesn’t mean that all the language schools will be able to apply and will have received designation by June 1, but many of them will.
The PIE: Some ESL schools seem daunted by the application process. Is it really such a difficult process?
It’s really hard for international students to differentiate good institutions from not so good. The designation process will help them
JH: People have referred to the onerous amount of financial information that has to be included when applying for designation, but it may not be as onerous as all that. There are processes and these may be challenging for some institutions. But others are managing to do it!
At the end of the day, designation is positive. It will protect Canada’s reputation, which is of huge importance. A few years ago there were some “schools” which really tarnished our reputation. It’s really hard for international students to differentiate good institutions from not so good. The designation process will help them.
I think this will all unfold, at the end of the day, relatively well. It’s just challenging to get all of the pieces together to ensure that institutions and schools and organisations can continue to provide the appropriate support, the appropriate information, the appropriate privileges to students that they should have, while we work our way through the many changes that have been implemented over the past year. Canada is a good news story in international education and we are all working hard to keep it that way.
