Immigration Minister Marc Miller is calling on Canadian post-secondary institutions to reduce their dependence on Indian international students, saying they must broaden their recruitment strategies to entice students from elsewhere.
“Universities and colleges need to put a little more effort into the price of acquisition and invest more in the talent that you’re bringing here, and that includes going to more countries and expanding your resources,” said Miller in a press release on Thursday.
Indian students made up the lion’s share of international study permits issued last year, accounting for 189,070 of the total 518,125. Chinese students accounted for the second most at 56,550.
“I would say universities and colleges have been going to one or two source countries and constantly going back to the well on that and we expect the diversity of students,” Miller told reporters in Brampton, Ont. last week.
“That doesn’t mean that Indian students aren’t some of the best and brightest. Indeed, (as) one of the largest populations in the world, you would expect students to come from India.”
The federal government began cracking down on the program’s vulnerabilities last year after facing backlash around its loose rule enforcement and a probe that led to the discovery of thousands of fraudulent student visas.
Around 2,000 suspicious student visas were reviewed in 2023 resulting in the discovery that approximately 1,485 applicants had issued fake letters of admission to colleges and universities.
The bulk of the fraudulent applicants involved came from India, China and Vietnam.
Among those who are approved legitimately, truancy remains an issue.
Nearly 50,000 international students were marked as “no-shows” by their universities and colleges, according to government data, further damaging the validity of the student visa program.
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada data, no-show students accounted for 6.9% of all international students.
The IRCC said it’s now focusing on expanding marketing to underrepresented regions and increasing scholarships for students from emerging markets.
Additionally, the department wants to ensure that academic institutions are complying with the government’s new regulations.
Canada’s population has jumped by 2.9 million in the last three years, averaging 81,000 new people monthly, many of which arrived on temporary visas.
For many people, Canada’s international student program is a means to attain citizenship, with 14,000 international students claiming asylum in the first nine months of last year.
The federal government reduced its number of international student permits issued by more than 100,000 last year compared to 2023 earlier this year, however, permit extensions have increased slightly.
Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 last year, 13,660 asylum claims were filed by international students attending universities and colleges across Canada.
“It doesn’t make sense that you come here, spend a year, and that if you didn’t have the conditions in your home country to cause you to be an asylum seeker on day one … that you should be entitled to (the asylum) process,” said Miller.