CBIE | Canada shouldn’t be closing doors on international students

The interest group view, tone deaf to the impact that their previous advocacy without any consideration of broader impact on society has had, and that many of international students, particularly in public and private colleges, are far from global talent:

….This crisis has exposed what is a chronic underfunding and undervaluing of post-secondary education in Canada. To sustain the sector, provinces and territories must urgently commit to adequately funding post-secondary education ensuring access to high-quality education for Canadian students. Our post-secondary institutions shouldn’t be reliant on revenues from international student tuition for their operational survival.

Unfortunately, recent policy changes and rising anti-immigration rhetoric have obscured the fact that we need global talent to sustain and grow our economy to counter our aging population and  declining birth rate. Canada’s future prosperity and growth hinges on those who choose to study in Canada and ultimately make this country home.

International students are young, possess Canadian degrees and certifications, are fluent in one of Canada’s official languages and have established support networks here. Most already reside in our communities and many have proven domestic work experience.

They are well-positioned to provide the high-quality talent we need for our research enterprises, health, social and cultural sectors and emerging sectors including clean tech, bioengineering and machine learning; all of which will strengthen Canada’s competitiveness, productivity and economic prospects. Put simply, the recruitment of global talent is in our national interest.

Ottawa and the provinces must work together on a well-designed and synchronized global talent strategy that can address labour market shortages while meeting changing demographic realities from coast to coast to coast.

Such a strategy would ensure that short-term policy measures to address one problem don’t take place in a vacuum ignoring our longer-term recruitment, labour market and immigration objectives….

Source: CBIE | Canada shouldn’t be closing doors on international students