Fewer international master’s students given permits to study in last two years, figures show

Interesting, given that graduate students are exempt from the cap:

…A breakdown of the IRCC figures, disclosed to The Globe and Mail on Wednesday, shows that between January and September, 2024, there were 28,605 new study permits issued to master’s degree students. But in 2025 over the same period that number dropped by 46 per cent to 15,390. 

The number of permits issued by the Immigration Department to allow students to study for bachelor degrees dropped 40 per cent, from 33,250 between January and September, 2024, to 20,045 over the same period in 2025.

The starkest reduction in study permits was to foreign nationals applying to study at Canadian colleges. 

There was an 82-per-cent decrease in the number of study permits issued to international students to study at colleges, from 101,025 between January and September, 2024, to 18,105 in the same period last year. 

There was a slight drop in the number of study permits issued to doctoral students between 2024 and 2025, from 3,305 to 3,225, the figures show. 

At Ontario universities, the reduction in the number of international master’s and bachelor degree students was less dramatic than in Canada over all. There was a roughly 14-per-cent drop for both bachelor and master’s students, according to the Council of Ontario Universities. …

Source: Fewer international master’s students given permits to study in last two years, figures show