Universities across the country are tightening their financial belts after watching international student enrolment plummet - in some cases by more than 50 per cent - and they are bracing for even more federal immigration restrictions to come in the next two years.
Together with provincial realities such as limited funding and declining domestic student revenue, the changes have created a perfect storm across the entire postsecondary sector, leading to impending job losses, hiring freezes, early retirement incentives, fewer courses and sections, and even campus closure.
The result is a "dual threat" to Canada, said Gabriel Miller, president and CEO of Universities Canada. The country faces a "constrained ability to create opportunity" for domestic students to get a university education due to lack of money to run programs, and "a loss of really invaluable talent coming into Canada," he said, because promising international graduate students are turning away from the country for better prospects elsewhere.
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