Ottawa: Canada is concerned about the overall integrity of the system that educates hundreds of thousands of international students, and not just the added pressure it is putting on housing, Immigration Secretary Marc Miller said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Canada is on track to host 900,000 international students this year, Miller said in the interview that aired late Saturday, more than at any time in history and about three times the number a decade ago.
The university ecosystem that attracts foreign students “is very lucrative and brings with it some perverse effects and fraud in the system. Some people are taking advantage of what appears to be a backdoor entry into Canada,” Miller said.
Private and public universities generate CA$20 billion to CA$30 billion (US$14.7 billion to US$22.1 billion) in revenue annually from those coming to study from abroad, Miller said. Canada is a popular travel destination for international students due to the relative ease of obtaining a work permit.
“Some people are legitimately making big bucks out of it, others are manipulating the system, and my primary concern is the integrity of the system,” he said.
Miller said his concern isn’t with the public universities, but “mainly with the private universities that have just skyrocketed in different parts of Canada.”
The opposition Conservative Party has repeatedly attacked Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government for failing to solve the housing crisis.
The housing secretary recently said the government is considering capping the number of students admitted each year to ease the housing shortage, but Miller was skeptical.
“The mere imposition of a hard cap, which has attracted a lot of public attention in recent days, is not the only solution to this problem,” Miller said.
($1 = 1.3602 Canadian dollars)
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