Recently, the Government of Ontario announced additional funding of CAD 1.3 billion for the province’s public colleges and universities. Ontario, being the most populous province, hosts just over half of the country’s foreign students. The additional funding is meant to help an underfunded public system regain its fiscal ground. Moreover, the funding will be further allocated to temper the effect of a continuing freeze on domestic tuition fees.
It turns out that none of the additional funding will be sufficient to turn down the financial impact due to the cap on study permit applications. However, not considering the impact on universities or other segments of the education system, the budget has been revealed this week. As per the budget, the cap on study permit applications is expected to reduce revenues to Ontario colleges by more than CAD 3 billion in 2024–25 and 2025–26.
However, out of the total international study permits, 96% will go to public universities and colleges in Ontario. Perhaps the remaining will be split between language schools, private universities, and other institutions across the province. The career colleges in total will not receive any of the provincial allocation.
Under this approach:
- Out of the total 23 universities in Ontario, 22 will be able to lodge the same number of applications as they did in 2023. Only Algoma University will witness a decline in its application volume.
- The province says that colleges holding public-private partnerships and Conestoga College will see the largest decline.
There will be set criteria for the allocation of applications to individual colleges and universities, as per the government:
- Enrolment in French-language programmes in Ontario will be prioritised.
- Priority for programmes in high-demand sectors like STEM, hospitality, skilled trades, child care, and health and human resources.
- Allocation to individual institutions is not meant to exceed the application volumes in 2023.
- The ratio of international permits cannot exceed 55% of the institutions’ 2023 first-year domestic enrollment.
The strategy used by Ontario is quite different from that of other significant Canadian host provinces for international students, such as British Columbia, which distributes study permits almost evenly between public and private universities.
