The enrollment trends between international and domestic students in Canada can be seen from data from 2010 to 2019. The data depicts that enrollment immensely increased from 142,200 to 388,800 international students at Canada’s post-secondary institutions.
Currently, international students across all study levels emerged to be more than 800,000.
This unexpected rise in the international student population in Canada often sparks questions about its influence on domestic students. The major question is whether Canadian students will face challenges due to the vast number of foreign students arriving. Another point is whether they will negatively impact Canada’s future.
Interestingly, the latest reports by Statistics Canada confirm that all these speculations appear untrue. This is largely due to the studies done by researchers Youjin Choi and Feng Hou. Their studies have largely confirmed that the link between international and domestic students in Canada is a positive one.
The study even considered the enrollment figures of domestic and international students. This is about Canada’s public and post-secondary institutions. However, the main emphasis is on programs such as STEM and BHASE. STEM represents Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, while BHASE represents Business, Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences, and Education.
Programs linked to commerce, services, natural resources, law, and conservation were also a part of the BHASE portfolio for the objectives of this study.
After adjusting for additional variables known as “institution characteristics and time effects,” such as a change in curriculum, admissions requirements, enrollment capacity, etc., the study sought to determine the effect of international student enrollment on domestic students.
Study concerning the enrollment of International and domestic students in Canada – What about the outcomes?
The study’s major finding was that post-secondary enrollment of international students didn’t affect the domestic students in Canada. This concerns all study levels.
Furthermore, while researching STEM and BHASE programs, it became evident that the link between international and domestic students continues to exist. This implies that international students get admission in both STEM and BHASE courses. Similarly, domestic students also get enrolled in these courses.
The correlation between the number of international students enrolled in BHASE programs and domestic students at the institution was even more vital for BHASE programs in post-secondary non-tertiary and short-cycle tertiary programs.
The analysis concluded by noting a statistically significant positive link between the enrolment of domestic and international students in BHASE graduate programs. In addition, it showcased the lack of association between those two groups in graduate STEM programs.
These findings are particularly noteworthy in light of the general trend of a modest decline in domestic Canadian students enrolled in post-secondary education. Meanwhile, enrollments of international students at the same level of study have nearly tripled over the same ten-year period. More international students are enrolling in all of the programs and educational levels this survey examined.
The reasons behind the above findings
The study presents a theory to explain the positive link between domestic and international student enrollment in STEM and BHASE sectors, even though it is unable to provide much insight into the logic behind the results.
This is known as the “cross-subsidization” argument, which holds that Canadian educational institutions may use the fees paid to foreign students. This implies that these are typically far greater than those paid to domestic students to offset the cost of teaching domestic students. According to this argument, since international students pay higher tuition for the same educational services, educational institutions have more money to reinvest in Canadian students’ education. Crucially, even though the study could not discover any proof of this cross-subsidization, the results held up when covariates came into consideration.
Historical data provides additional support for cross-subsidization. The average tuition prices for overseas undergraduate students climbed by 90.2% between 2010 and 2019. This indicates a rise from $16,842 to $32,039 CAD. The local student fees increased by only 27% during the same period. This means a rise from $5,146 to $6,580 CAD. The rates at which both of these tuition increases greatly outpaced the 13% increase in prices of goods and services during this time due to inflation. This data is by the Consumer Price Index.
If the patterns in this study continue, it does not appear likely that the enrolment of local students will affect that of international students or vice versa. It is important to acknowledge the limitations of this study.
What are the limitations of this study by Statistics Canada?
Although the study adds value to the body of knowledge on the subject, it has limitations one can’t ignore, especially in light of Canada’s demographics.
For example, the results examined might only be pertinent to the particular time frame examined in the study. They might be impacted by changes in the population that took place in the 2010s. Notably, according to Statistics Canada, the population of young adults (18 to 24) decreased from 462,009 in 2008 to 410,851 in 2021. The leading cause of this fall was a drop in births during the 1990s and the first part of the 2000s (Statistics Canada, 2022f). Due to the declined domestic demand in postsecondary education, there was a chance for international students to occupy these spaces.
The departmental budgets for domestic student enrolments receive subsidies from provincial funds. As a result, the fall in provincial funding may also have contributed to the decline in enrolment of domestic students. Postsecondary educational institutions were able to increase their enrollment of overseas students without decreasing local enrollment. This may have been essential due to these demographic shifts.
In contrast, demographic trends will likely reverse over the following ten years. The population of young adults between 18 and 24 started to expand in 2021. It is likely to grow at a substantial rate until 2026. Also, it might surpass the 2008 peak.
Conclusion
If Canadian young adults continue to pursue post-secondary education, this demographic shift could increase the country’s demand for post-secondary education. This is applicable over the course of the next ten years. As a result, in the upcoming ten years, there might be a change in the fundamental link between variations in the enrolment of domestic and foreign students.
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