Ontario To Crackdown on Bogus Colleges & Approves Fast Tracking for PhD Grads

The provincial government in Ontario has introduced new legislation it says will help it protect foreign students from falling for bogus universities or colleges.

What the Ontario government wants is more powers to tackle businesses that might establish colleges or universities without permission to grant degrees or diplomas.

The new rules will help the government shut down such businesses much easily, than having to go through extended legal processes.

PhD Grads To Be Fast-Tracked To Canadian Citizenship

This move comes as Ontario announced yet another step to make the province even more attractive for foreign students.

The provincial government, just like its federal counterpart in Ottawa as well as governments in Australia and New Zealand, sees the foreign student sector as an excellent source for foreign exchange earnings.

Accordingly, Ontario wants to increase the intake of foreign students by fifty percent over the next five years.

Under new rules, those who have completed PhD from an Ontario university can apply to be fast tracked for the permanent residence, which allows them to work without a work permit. Generally, the permanent residence is the first step towards Canadian citizenship.

Canada’s French speaking province of Quebec has also brought in changes to fast track foreign students towards Canadian citizenship. (Article here.)

Canada Opens Doors To Indian Students

Canada welcomes India’s higher education students.

This is basically the message the Canadian federal government and the various provincial governments are trying to impart to Indians wanting to go abroad for higher studies.

And towards this end, Canada has implemented a number of strategies, including promoting community colleges, where the costs can be lower than universities but whose degrees are recognised throughout the country, and a fast-track system to process ‘genuine’ visa applications.

And just recently, Jean Charest, the Premier of the French province of Quebec, announced in India that foreign students who complete higher studies in his province will be given a Certificate of Selection which in effect will put them on a fast track to obtaining Canadian citizenship.

At present, one has to have lived at least 1095 continuous days in Canada with permanent residence status to be able to apply for Canadian citizenship. Each day spent in Canada legally but without a permanent residence (for example, with a student permit) will be counted as half a day.

The new Quebec system came into effect Feb 14, and will be valid only for those who have completed bachelors, masters or doctoral studies.

Quebec officials hope this accelerated path to Canadian citizenship will attract more Indian students to their province. Quebec officials say that at present about 4,000 of the 25,000 foreign students in the province are from India.

The Quebec move is part of a major offensive launched by Canadian educational institutions and the government to attract more Indian students to Canada.

Fast Track System For Indian Students

While a number of educational institutions have signed bilateral projects with Indian counterparts, the Canadian government launched a major initiative early last year. Named the Student Partners Program, the program was launched last April between the Canadian visa offices in India and twenty members of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC).

And in the first nine months, the program reported that the Canadian visa offices received more than four thousand applications, and that the approval rate has doubled. Furthermore, the processing time is also much faster, with the average of about two and half weeks.

Canadian officials feel that with the spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia, prospective students might be willing to consider Canada as an alternate location to pursue their studies.

According to one study done by the Canadian foreign affairs and international trade ministry, the foreign students sector contributed more than 6.5 billion dollars to Canadian economy in 2008.

Canada’s French Province Wants More Indian Students

Canada’s key French province of Quebec is on an offensive to attract more students from India and other nations.

The Quebec Premier Jean Charest made the announcement recently in India that foreign students who complete higher studies in his province will be given a Certificate of Selection which in effect will put them on a fast track to obtaining Canadian citizenship.

At present, one has to have lived at least 1095 continuous days in Canada with permanent residence status to be able to apply for Canadian citizenship. Each day spent in Canada legally but without a permanent residence (for example, with a student permit) will be counted as half a day.

The new Quebec system will come into effect Feb 14, and will be valid only for those who have completed bachelors, masters or doctoral studies.

Quebec officials hope this accelerated path to Canadian citizenship will attract more Indian students to their province. Quebec officials say that at present about 4,000 of the 25,000 foreign students in the province are from India.

The Quebec move is part of a major offensive launched by Canadian educational institutions and the government to attract more Indian students to Canada.

While a number of educational institutions have signed bilateral projects with Indian counterparts, the Canadian government launched a major initiative early last year. Named the Student Partners Program, the program was launched last April between the Canadian visa offices in India and twenty members of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC).

And in the first nine months, the program reported that the Canadian visa offices received more than four thousand applications, and that the approval rate has doubled. Furthermore, the processing time is also much faster, with the average of about two and half weeks.

According to one study done by the Canadian foreign affairs and international trade ministry, the foreign students sector contributed more than 6.5 billion dollars to Canadian economy in 2008.

Call for Canada to Bring in More Indian Students

India can expect more attention from Canadian universities and even the government’s officials responsible for immigration.

This, after an expert study called for dedicated effort to woo Indian students, not just as a source of foreign exchange, but also as an investment in cementing firm political, economic and cultural relationships with an emerging powerhouse.

In his study, titled ‘A New Direction for the Canada-India Relatiionship, Professor Ryan Touhey castigates the current status of Canada’s efforts to attract Indian students.

And Touhey has hard numbers to back up his complaint: Of the more than 150,000 Indian students going abroad every year for studies, less than three percent – about 4,000 – come to study at the various universities and colleges in Canada. Compare this to the 80,000 that go to the USA and 40,000 to Australia every year. Even New Zealand, which has much weaker links to India than Canada, with its more than half a million Indians spread throughout the country, gets more than 6,000 students every year.

Economic & Political Advantages

For one thing, attracting foreign students is good for the economy, as they pay much more than what locals pay for their studies.

A case in point is Australia.

Since the nineties, Australia has invested heavily in attracting Indian students with a number of annual events throughout the country. The foreign students sector itself is said to be the third largest foreign exchange earner, with annual earnings of about 12 billion dollars. And the estimated 100,000 Indian students are the second largest group next to Chinese.

The importance Australians pay for their foreign student component was very evident during the racially motivated attacks on Indian students in May of this year. Conversations were held at the highest level between officials of both countries, and recently even the Australian deputy prime minister was in India to reassure that Indian students are welcome.

But it is not just economy that benefits from having Indian students, says Prof. Touhey.

It is also about building future relationships.

India, along with China, is emerging as an economic powerhouse and nations are hurrying to build relationships with current leaders of those nations. But today’s students are future leaders and once they return to their home countries and rise up in life, they will fondly remember all things Canadian, and this will help Canada politically, says the study.

80,000 Foreign Students Come to Canada Annually

About 80,000 foreign students come to Canada every year and recently the government announced it was keen on increasing this number. At present, Canada offers a host of incentives for foreign students and these include allowing them to work here after studying and an easier path to permanent residency in the country.

Canada To Increase Foreign Student Enrollment

Canada is exploring ways to bring in more foreign students to study at its universities and other degree/diploma awarding institutions.

The country’s federal immigration minister, Jason Kenney announced this recently but he did not give any concrete figures.

Last year, Canada allowed close to 80,000 students, up by 20 percent from the 2004 figures. Canada has now more than 200,000 foreign students altogether.

But other countries, such as Australia, Britain and the United States attract far more students than Canada. Australia has more than 350,000 students while the USA has more than 700,000.

Most of the students come from Asia – China, Japan, India and South Korea.

And having foreign students make business sense, as they usually pay much more than locals as fees. As well, because they do not have family ties, foreign students are dependent on hostels which also helps local businesses.

And foreign students aiming to come to Canada have real incentives now: under the Canada Experience Class, becoming a permanent resident – the first step towards citizenship – has been made much easier. Students of certain programs can apply for permanent residence if they meet certain conditions, such as having followed an academic program lasting at least two academic years, have had at least a year of skilled work experience and language skills.