From 2010 to 2019, the number of international students enrolled at Canadian public post-secondary institutions increased from 142,000 to 388,800. Presently, the number of international students at all levels of study is 800,000. Well, here’s how international student enrollment affects domestic students.
The surge in the international student population can raise concerns regarding domestic student enrolment within Canada, i.e., will Canadian students suffer due to the large influx of international students & how international student enrollment affects domestic students?
Well, a Statistics Canada study seems to suggest the opposite. Comparing post-secondary enrollment trends between domestic & international students, researchers Feng Hou & Youjin Choi uncovered a positive relationship between domestic & international student enrollment at Canadian institutions, with some interesting findings along the way.
The study focused on enrolment numbers of both international as well as domestic students at Canadian public post-secondary institutions, emphasizing on STEM & BHASE-related programs. For the purpose of this study, BHASE programs also included legal studies, trades, natural resources, services, & conservation-related programs.
Moreover, the study also assessed how international student enrollment affects domestic students after controlling for the number of other variables referred to as ‘institution characteristics & time effects’.
Outcomes
The study found that the post-secondary international student enrolment did not have any impact on domestic enrolment at the institution level.
However, when looking at STEM & BHASE programs, the study revealed a positive correlation between both groups. Well, it found that as more international students enrolled in STEM & BHASE courses, so did more domestic students. This relationship was stronger for BHASE programs in post-secondary, non-tertiary, & short-cycle tertiary programs. Herein, an increase in international student enrolment in BHASE programs correlated with an institution-wide rise in domestic students.
Finally, the study found no correlation between international & domestic student enrollment at the graduate level within STEM programs. However, it found a statistically significant positive correlation between international & domestic student enrollment in the BHASE graduate program.
These outcomes are specifically insightful given that, as an overall trend, the number of domestic Canadian students enrolled in post-secondary education has decreased a bit. However, the number of international student enrollments has nearly tripled in the same ten-year period.
In fact, enrollment of international students has increased across every educational level as well as the program, which is the result of more and more students getting study visas & was measured by this study.
Why This Might Be The Case?
While the study cannot give us much in the way of the reasoning behind the results, it does introduce a theory in order to explain the positive correlation between international & domestic student enrollment in STEM & BHASE fields.
This is the theory of cross-subsidisation, an idea educational institutions use to subsidize the cost of teaching domestic students. In this theory, international students enable the education of Canadian students, as they pay increased tuition fees for the same educational services, further giving educational institutions more money to reinvest into the schools. Significantly, while the study found no evidence of this cross-subsidization, outcomes after controlling for variables were constant with this hypothesis.
Historical data further support cross-subsidization. Between 2010 – 2019, average tuition fees for international undergraduate students grew by 90.2%. Simultaneously, period domestic student fees increased by only 27%. Well, both of these tuition hikes took place at rates that far exceeded the 13% increase in prices of goods & services because of inflation during this duration.
Given the data, it does not seem likely that international student enrollment will affect domestic student enrollment. However, there are certain limitations to it.
Limitations Of The Study
While important in contributing to research on the topic, the study has certain limitations, specifically when considering the nation’s demography.
For example, the results explored might only be relevant in a particular time frame covered by the study & could be influenced by demographic changes that took place during the 2010s. Notably, according to Statistics Canada, there was a decrease in the population of young adults between 18 to 24 years of age from 462,009 in 2008 to 410,851 in 2021.
Well, this decline was primarily due to a decrease in the number of births in the 1990s & early 2000s. As a result, there was a decrease in the domestic demand for post-secondary programs, which created an opportunity for international students to fill these seats.
Another factor contributing to the decrease in domestic student enrollment is the reduction of provincial funding in departmental budgets. Because of these demographic changes, post-secondary institutions might have needed to increase their enrollment of international students, which they could do without reducing domestic enrollment.
However, demographic trends will be the opposite in the next ten years. The population of young adults aged 18 to 24 began to increase in 2021 & is projected to experience rapid growth until 2026. This demographic change might increase domestic demand for post-secondary education in the next decade if the tendency of young adults in Canada is constant. Consequently, there might be a shift in the underlying relationship between changes in the enrollment of domestic & international students in the next decade.