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Japa: Canada Introduces New Measures To Tighten Standards On College Amid Foreign Students Pressure

Published

2 years ago

October 29, 2023

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is introducing new measures to tighten standards on colleges, responding to criticism that Canada’s education sector is bringing in so many foreign students that it’s boosting pressure on housing and the labor market.

According to Bloomberg, Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a framework on Friday that will push universities and colleges to set a higher standard for services, support and outcomes for international students, starting in time for the fall 2024 semester.

Schools that meet the higher benchmark will get priority for the processing of student visas, Miller said, and adequate housing will be one of the criteria.

Institutions also will be required to confirm every applicant’s acceptance letter directly with the Canadian government starting December 1, he said.

He explained that the process was designed to tackle fraud, following revelations that hundreds of Indian newcomers unknowingly arrived in Canada with fake college admissions letters.

In the coming months, Miller’s department will also review the post-graduate work permit program and introduce reforms to ensure it meets the needs of the labor market.

The plan comes amid growing concern that Canadian educational institutions rely too much on international students as a source of funding, Bloomberg said.

Foreign students are charged an average of five times as much as Canadian students, and colleges catering to foreigners have popped up in strip malls and temporary buildings, most notably in the Toronto suburb of Brampton, Ontario where Miller made his announcement on Friday.

“We know that there has been consistent underfunding of post-secondary education, particularly by provinces, depending on the province, over the years – and institutions are smart and have adapted to that,” Miller said at a news conference.

“That has gone through at times opportunistic fees that have been charged to international students to close a gap that is really an unnatural one and shouldn’t be the case in a country like Canada.”

Post-secondary institutions have increasingly relied on tuition fees as provincial funding as a share of revenue has declined from 42% in 2001 to 35% last year. Ontario, the country’s largest province, has also frozen tuition fees that can be charged to Canadians for the past three years.

In 2019 to 2020, foreigners paid 37% of tuition at Canada’s universities, while in 2021 those students paid an estimated 68% of tuition at Ontario’s colleges.

Many foreign students, on the other hand, use admission to college as a pathway to gain permanent residency in Canada. While Trudeau’s government has previously mulled introducing a cap on international student visas, Miller poured cold water on that idea Friday.

The number of foreign students in Canada has tripled in about a decade to more than 800,000 last year.

The experiences of international students are too complex for the federal government to “stomp in and pretend that it has all the solutions” in establishing a visa cap, Miller said.

Provinces have a primary role in accrediting learning institutions, he said.

“The federal government is coming forward and opening its arms to our provincial partners, territorial partners, to make sure we all do our jobs properly,” he said. “If that job can’t be done, the federal government is prepared to do it.”

Bloomberg revealed that international education contributes more than C$22 billion ($16 billion) to the Canadian economy annually – greater than Canada’s exports of auto parts, lumber or aircraft – and supports more than 200,000 jobs, according to Miller’s office.

But the influx of foreign students has exacerbated housing shortages, leaving many without proper accommodation, and flooded labor markets in some regions where there aren’t enough jobs.

Miller’s announcement appeared aimed at private colleges and immigration consultants accused of exploiting international students for profit. He said a government investigation earlier this year identified nearly 1,550 study permit applications connected to fraudulent acceptance letters.

In most cases, the fraud was detected and the application was refused, but in about 450 cases, a permit was issued. A further review determined some were genuine students, while others were victims who unknowingly received fake admission documents, Miller said.

Headline

Morocco Jails Student One Year Over Gen Z Protest

Published

1 day ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

A student arrested during Morocco’s youth-led protests has been sentenced to one year in prison, his lawyer told AFP on Friday.

The case marks the first publicly known prison sentence linked to the kingdom’s Gen Z demonstrations, which have been held near-daily between late September and last week to demand social and political reforms.

The student was charged with “participating in an unauthorised and unarmed gathering” and “insulting the judicial police by providing false information”, lawyer Mohamed Nouini said.

“The ruling is unfair, and we will appeal,” he added, arguing that sit-ins did not require authorisation as per a Supreme Court precedent.

The lawyer said his client was arrested on September 30, three days after the protests erupted in the North African country.

According to a report by news website Hespress, citing another lawyer, the student’s arrest was “an unfortunate coincidence” as he was in Casablanca for a family visit.

The other lawyer, Mohamed Lakhdar, told the judge the student had “not insulted” police nor provided false information, telling them he “was just a student”, according to the report.

Hundreds were arrested during the early days of the largely peaceful demonstrations.

Some cities had seen spates of violence and acts of vandalism, while authorities have said three people were killed by police acting in “self-defence” during clashes in a village near Agadir.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) has said roughly 550 people are facing prosecution on suspicion of joining the protests, with some still in detention.

The organisers of the online-based movement behind the nationwide protests, the GenZ 212 youth collective, remain unknown.

The collective has called for “peaceful sit-ins” on Saturday and demanded the release of those arrested during the demonstrations.

The protest came after the deaths of eight pregnant women during Caesarean sections at a hospital in Agadir.

But protesters have also demanded reforms to the education system and a change of government.
AFP

Headline

Trump Refiles $15bn Defamation Lawsuit Against New York Times

Published

1 day ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump has refiled a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, court documents show, weeks after it was thrown out by a federal judge.

Trump has intensified his long-established hostility toward the media since his return to the White House, and the suit is one of numerous attacks against news organizations he accuses of bias against him.

The Times’ complaint was thrown out in September because District Judge Steven Merryday took exception to its florid writing, repetitive and laudatory praise of Trump, and its excessive 85-page length.

The suit filed Thursday in Florida and seen by AFP runs to less than half the length, at 40 pages.

It takes aim at “false, defamatory, and malicious publications”, highlighting a book and two Times articles.

The lawsuit named the newspaper, three Times reporters and the publisher Penguin Random House as defendants.

It accuses them of making defamatory statements against Trump “with actual malice.”

“The statements in question wrongly defame and disparage President Trump’s hard-earned professional reputation, which he painstakingly built for decades” before entering the White House, the lawsuit says.

The court was asked to grant compensatory damages of not less than $15 billion and additional punitive damages “in an amount to be determined upon trial.”

Trump’s attacks on media outlets have seen him restrict access, badmouth journalists critical of his administration, and bring lawsuits demanding huge amounts of compensation.

In July, Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion after it reported on the existence of a book and a letter he allegedly sent to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit over election coverage on CBS News’ flagship show “60 Minutes” for $16 million the same month. He had alleged that the program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.

AFP

Headline

Italian Journalist’s Car Bombed, No Casualties

Published

1 day ago

October 17, 2025

Editor

A bomb destroyed the vehicle of a prominent Italian journalist overnight, without causing casualties, his investigative television news show announced Friday.

Sigfrido Ranucci’s car blew up in an explosion in Pomezia, near Rome, that also damaged the family’s other car and the house next door, according to Report, which broadcasts on RAI public television.

“The force of the explosion was so strong that it could have killed anyone passing by at the moment,” it said in a statement on X.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni strongly condemned what she called a “serious act of intimidation”.

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“The freedom and independence of information are non-negotiable values of our democracies, which we will continue to defend,” she wrote on X.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said he had ordered an increase in the journalist’s security “to the maximum”.

He called the attack a “cowardly and extremely serious act that represents an attack not only on the person but on the freedom of the press and the fundamental values of our democracy”.

The Report show is known for its in-depth investigative reports.

According to the campaign group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Italy ranks 49th in the world in terms of press freedom.

“Journalists who investigate organised crime and corruption are systematically threatened and sometimes subjected to physical violence for their investigative work,” it said in its latest update.

About 20 journalists currently live under permanent police protection after being the targets of intimidation and attacks, it added.

AFP