Quebec says private colleges are selling citizenship. The data tells another story

Important highlighting what the data says:

…Roberge said the number of foreign students in Quebec has increased by 140 per cent, from 50,000 in 2014 to 120,000 last year, a number he said is “too many.” He suggested some private colleges are using education as “a business model to sell Quebec and Canadian citizenship” and pointed to two — without naming them — that have seen a manifold increase in international student enrolment in the last two years.

But federal and provincial numbers paint a different picture. They show a sharp increase in international students at public and government-subsidized private colleges and francophone universities that aligns with government policy. Enrolment at unsubsidized private colleges, meanwhile, has cratered.

“If we try to understand why there has been an increase in our network, it’s because our colleges responded to the government’s call to recruit more in French-speaking countries, and in particular (for) Quebec’s regions,” said Patrick Bérubé, CEO of the Quebec association of private subsidized colleges. “We are currently trying to understand exactly what problem the government is trying to solve with this bill.”

The federal government issued about 61,000 study permits to foreign students at post-secondary institutions in Quebec in 2023, up from 51,000 the year before. The increase in permits went almost entirely to students from French-speaking countries, mostly in North and West Africa.

A 2023 strategic plan from Quebec’s higher education department says that attracting international students to francophone colleges and universities is “a government priority” as part of a “global race for talent.”

Source: Quebec says private colleges are selling citizenship. The data tells another story