REGINA — The lower numbers of international students enrolling in post-secondary institutions in Saskatchewan has the CEO of Sask Polytechnic concerned.
Dr. Larry Rosia, CEO of Sask Polytechnic, was asked about the impact of recent policy changes at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada aimed at capping the number of permits for international students. Earlier this year the federal government announced the overall number of permits for Saskatchewan was being capped at 8,869.
Dr. Rosia was also asked about recent layoffs of some staff at the Saskatoon campus, with layoff notices to 14 more staff in early August after a layoff of 27 staff earlier this year.
“Well, all of our campuses are impacted by the policy changes of IRCC,” said Rosia.
“As you know the cap has been put on the number of seats that are available and the number of study permits that are being approved. So all of our campuses are impacted and we have had layoffs and we'll probably continue to have layoffs to be truthful.”
Sask Polytechnic has campuses located across the province in Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert.
As for the reduction in international students, Dr. Rosia noted that they "base our programs on industry demand and student demand and if there isn't student demand then we rightsize our organization to deal with that accordingly.”
Rosia added that one of the reasons that their programs had such a high employment rate was because “we do not offer programs where there isn't student demand or where there isn't industry demand. We fill those spaces so all of our campuses will be impacted because we have international students studying at all of our locations. We still will have international students but not in the numbers that we had in the past and we will rightsize to make sure that we are good stewards of taxpayers dollars and our organization is responding to the changing environment which is always changing.”
Minister of Advanced Education Ken Cheveldayoff reiterated concerns that he has previously expressed about the international students cap and the impact on post-secondary institutions in the province.
“We are absolutely concerned about the cap on international students not only here at Sask Poly but all our major institutions: the University of Regina, the University of Saskatchewan and all of our regional colleges as well,” said Cheveldayoff.
“So we're making sure that first of all we're talking with a cohesive voice to the federal government. I was recently at a meeting in Toronto with all the Ministers of Advanced Education from across the country and we're looking to improve upon those numbers and to have a good two-way dialogue, and that is taking place and you will know it expands farther than just students as well.”
Cheveldayoff also said Minister of Immigration and Career Training Jim Reiter, the Saskatchewan Immigration Nominee Program, and others are “working hard to ensure that the collaboration is taking place between the federal government and the provincial government.”
Both Dr. Rosia and Cheveldayoff were at an announcement Aug. 27 of $10.8 million in federal and provincial funding to build 540 child care spaces at post-secondary institutions in the province. Sask Polytechnic campuses throughout the province will be the location for 450 of those 540 additional spaces, with the other 90 at Northlands College in La Ronge.
