2. “International Students Are … Golden”: Canada’s Changing Policy Contexts, Approaches, and National Peculiarities in Attracting International Students as Future Immigrants

Toward an Understanding of International Students within Canadian Settler-colonial Capitalism (Research Note)

“…The vision of international students as long-term immigrants came about in the late post-war era; up until then, international students were intended as short-term visitors, specifically "aid targets" in Canada's foreign policy of international development and the building of a "multi-racial Commonwealth" (Kelley & Trebilcock, 2010, p. 316;McCartney, 2016). International students from former colonies were invited to study in Canada on funding programs (McCartney, 2016;Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019), initiatives that were imbued with neo-colonial paternalism and Cold War goals to counteract the "spread" of communism (see McCartney, 2016).…”

“…The 1967 points system further consolidated this approach with statistical measurements, and as the economy increasingly globalized and post-industrialized, an emphasis on admitting and retaining skilled workers was eventually integrated (Fleras, 2015;Simmons, 2010). By the turn of the 21 st century, international students were being looked at not only as potential long-term immigrants, but also as skilled, in fact "ideal," due to their "made-in-Canada" education, language proficiency, assumed knowledge of and acclimatization to Canadian society (Government of Canada, 2017), assumed self-sufficiency in their preparation for and integration into Canadian life, and capacity to contribute to Canada's global competitiveness (Cox, 2014;Gates-Gasse, 2012;Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019). The government set the goal of 450,000 international enrolments by 2022, which was surpassed in 2017 at 494,525, a 119% increase since 2010 (Canadian Bureau for International Education, 2018).…”

“…In addition to contributing human capital, international students are also appealing for their "dollar contributions to the economy" (Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019, p. 31). A shift from the aid model described above to a new model based on high international student tuition fees took place in the 1980s, initially to ease pressures of reduced federal funding for the postsecondary sector (Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019). Today, international education has proven more than just a financial solution; it is a top national commodity (Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019).…”

International education policymaking: A case study of Ontario’s Trillium Scholarship Program

“…IS funding policies in Ontario can be traced to the period following the Second World War. At the time, IS did not pay any differential fees and many were funded by different federal scholarship programs such as the Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship program (Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019). IS were perceived as "worthy recipients of Canadian aid" and ambassadors serving Canada's Cold War foreign policy and trade interests (McCartney, 2016, p. 1).…”

“…Health coverage for IS, formerly covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Program, was eliminated (Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, 2017) and international tuition fees were deregulated in 1996. Interest in the financial benefits of IS recruitment paved the way for increased collaboration between the federal government, the provincial governments, and post-secondary education (PSE) institutions to promote Canadian higher education internationally to recruit fee-paying IS (Trilokekar & El Masri, 2019). Upon assuming office in 2005, Premier McGuinty commissioned a review of Ontario's higher education sector.…”