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Based on this government of ’s announcement, it may now be harder for to get accepted at 13 public colleges across the province.

According to a , the following public colleges (presented in no particular order) will see a decline in international student enrollment this year:

• Cambrian
• Canadore
• Conestoga
• Fanshawe
• Georgian
• Lambton
• Loyalist
• Niagara
• Northern
• Sault
• Sir Sandford Fleming
• St. Clair
• St. Lawrence

How might this impact international students?

Although it is unclear exactly how much of a decline in enrollment each of the above colleges will see, it is worth noting that five of these colleges appeared on a recent list of the top 10 institutions by study permits approved for international students in 2023.

Note: The following data was taken from a . This data was gathered using a access to information request for publicly available data.

College	Number of Approved Study Permits in 2023
Conestoga (Ontario)	30,395
University Canada West (British Columbia)	13,913
Fanshawe (Ontario)	11,706
Niagara (Ontario)	11,199
Seneca (Ontario)	11,042
Lambton (Ontario)	9,639
Centennial (Ontario)	9,529
Algoma University (Ontario)	9,329
Sheridan (Ontario)	9,211
Fleming (Ontario)	8,849

Note: St. Clair College in Windsor (#11: 7,849 approved study permits), Georgian College* (#13: 7,064 permits approved) and Sudbury’s Cambrian College (#15: 6,441 permits) rounded out the top 15 schools on this 2023 list.

*Georgian College has seven campuses across Ontario, with its main campus being in Barrie

International students in Canada still have options, especially outside Ontario

It is important to know that some schools in Ontario – Canada’s largest international student and newcomer destination province – will be seeing a decline in international student enrollment.

This is because, as a prospective international student coming to Canada, it may be more difficult to be accepted at a post-secondary institution that will be experiencing decreased levels of international student enrollment.

However, it is equally important to remain aware of the fact that international students can also pursue further education elsewhere in Ontario or any of Canada’s other provinces and territories.

In fact, according to an April 5 announcement from (IRCC), five Canadian regions – , , , the and – will even be seeing an increase in their study permit allocations for 2024.

Alberta: 40,894 study permits allocated in 2024 (no top-up) – a 10% increase from 2023

Newfoundland and Labrador: 2,365 study permits (pre-top up) allocated in 2024 (top-up of 788 additional permits) – a 10% increase from 2023 (pre-top up)

Yukon: 417 study permits allocated in 2024 (no top-up) – a 205% increase from 2023

Northwest Territories: 333 study permits allocated in 2024 (no top-up) – an increase of 4900% from 2023

Nunavut: 333 study permits allocated in 2024 (no top-up) – an increase of 6567% from 2023

Note: On April 5, IRCC announced each province and territory’s final study permit allocations for 2024. For more details, click here.