In a recent letter to college staff, Conestoga College President John Tibbits asserted that the college will be unfairly impacted by the impending changes to international student study permits. Tibbits writes that Conestoga began expanding the number of international students it enrolled in order to help address future workforce needs and that the revenue from this enrolment has been invested back into building state-of-the-art facilities. He further notes that Conestoga has never contracted its curriculum to a private college. “The full impact of the federal government’s cap on international students remains unknown, but we can say with certainty that we have been unfairly grouped with what the government and other critics refer to as ‘bad actors in the sector,’” he writes. The letter concludes by noting that while changes should be made, they should be phased in over time and implemented in a way that will not threaten Canada’s postsecondary reputation.
