CANADA

Universities scramble to maintain flow of international students

Canadian universities are trying to salvage the incoming class of international students as travel restrictions, quarantine rules and the move to online learning threaten to disrupt what has become a crucial revenue source, writes Joe Friesen for The Globe and Mail.

Chauffeur service to a quarantined room, catered meals, daily health checks with a thermometer for every student, even the possibility of chartered flights to get students to Canada – all are on the table as institutions prepare for the fall term.

Overall, universities are bracing for a potential drop of 10% to 35% or more in international student fees – on top of revenue already lost to cancelled conferences and shuttered recreation facilities. The financial stakes are significant. In a little more than a decade, the number of international students attending Canadian universities has tripled, to nearly 500,000 in 2019, representing about a quarter of all new university enrolments, according to a recent Statistics Canada report.
Full report on The Globe and Mail site