Quebec government will slap ceiling on number of international students

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QUEBEC — The Quebec government is to table legislation Thursday slapping limits on the number of international students allowed to study in the province.

Immigration, Francization and Integration Minister Jean-François Roberge Wednesday gave notice on the legislature’s order paper of plans to table a bill designed to curb the arrival of out-of-province students in Quebec’s educational institutions.

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The bill is to be called: “An Act Mainly to Improve the Regulatory Scheme Governing International Students.”

There are currently about 120,000 international students in Quebec.  In 2014 there were 50,000.

Promised in August by Premier François Legault, the legislation is part of the government’s continuing campaign to reduce the number of temporary immigrants or non-permanent residents in Quebec.

Quebec argues that with 600,000 temporary immigrants in Quebec including students, its public services and housing are being overtaxed and the French language is threatened because about 40 per cent of the temporary immigrants do not master the language.

While it has called on the federal government to reduce by half the number of temporary immigrants, Quebec also said it would act in an area of jurisdiction it shares with Ottawa: international students.

In announcing its intentions in August, the government said in a statement that the new legislation is needed to equip itself with the legal levers to “better define” the framework for the arrival of students in Quebec.

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In the statement, Quebec said that it wants to be able to restrict the number student applications and distribute those it accepts based on several factors such as the types of institutions, the number of students per establishment, the regions they are applying to and their areas of study and level of education.

It is not known if Roberge will set an overall reduction target but it appears there will be a system-wide review of how the network operates so Quebec cab better trace where the students wind up once here and whether they actually complete their studies.

The number of international students residing in Quebec has almost doubled over the last six years, in part because of private colleges that are “abusing the system,” Legault said in August in announcing the plan for legislation.

Some colleges charge tens of thousands of dollars for tuition for foreign students hoping to attain permanent residency.

English universities in Montreal are home to the largest number of international students in the province. Legault said then he was not referring to them when he spoke of institutions that were abusing the system.

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Later, Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry repeated that McGill and Concordia are not among those abusing the system.

“We’re not targeting English institutions,” she said. “Everyone is targeted or everyone is concerned by this potential measure, by the bill that we’re going to table this fall.”

As of fall 2023, McGill University had 10,700 students from other countries while Concordia had 9,200. Université de Montréal has the highest international enrolment — 7,300.

The move, nevertheless, could create waves in the network. Last fall the Coalition Avenir Québec government announced a controversial plan to reduce the number of non-French speaking students from other provinces who attend Concordia and McGill.

To get there, Quebec imposed a 33-per-cent tuition hike on out-of-province students.

The two universities have warned the changes could lead to tens of millions of dollars in cuts.

Roberge is to explain his plan in more detail at a news conference. The exact breakdown of the numbers of students allowed per institution are expected to follow the adoption of the bill in the form of regulations.

pauthier@postmedia.com

x.com/philipauthier

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