Quebec is closing a path to immigration that was available to international students who attended non-subsidized private schools.
The new rules, announced Tuesday by the provincial government in collaboration with Ottawa, will take effect in September 2023.
Only those who have completed a study program at a public or private charter school will be able to obtain a work permit.
The possibility of a work permit was a major selling point for non-subsidized universities, which charge up to $ 25,000 a year in tuition.
In Quebec, the number of students in India in particular has skyrocketed, from 2,686 in 2017-2018 to 14,712 two years later. Most of them attend non-subsidized private schools.
CBC News reports have shed light on the mismanagement of some of the universities. In the case of three schools that closed abruptly last year, many students have not yet received a tuition refund and others were left in the legal limbo.
A 2021 report from the Quebec Ministry of Higher Education revealed shortcomings in terms of recruitment, business practices, governance, and teaching conditions.
Changes to address “integrity issues”
Quebec Labor Minister Jean Boulet and Ottawa Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said in a joint statement that the change was aimed at “addressing the gaps brought to light” by research on ” certain non-subsidized private universities “.
According to the statement, “it will ensure that Quebec is not used as a gateway to settle permanently in Canada. In other provinces, international students who have pursued an unsubsidized program of study generally do not have access. to this work permit “.
In an interview, Boulet said there were “integrity issues” in the system that needed to be resolved.
“We will harmonize with what is being done in the rest of Canada,” he told Radio-Canada.
“Private non – subsidized schools used this postgraduate work permit to hire [and] attracting people who benefited from our school system and then moved to other parts of Canada. “
Martin Maltais, a higher education policy expert and professor at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, said the measure was a faster way to address problems with non-subsidized private universities, rather than introducing legislative reforms.
“This is probably the fastest way to act and get results,” he said.