Sudbury post-secondary schools not affected by new international student restrictions

Despite cuts, enrollment steady at Sudbury schools Laurentian University and Cambrian College in Sudbury say they haven't been affected by cuts to international student enrollment.

Two post-secondary institutions in Sudbury haven't been negatively affected by the federal government’s decision to reduce study permits for international students.

More than a year ago, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced study permits would be reduced by 10 per cent in 2024.

Dan Lessard, manager of communications with Cambrian College, said enrolment numbers are up as a whole this year.

"We're up about five per cent to about 6,100 full-time and part-time students," he said.

"Of that, about 3,500 are domestic students and about 2,600 are international students."

Lessard said domestic enrolment has increased by 10 per cent, while international enrolment decreased by one per cent.

He attributes the change to recruitment efforts at the college, and a variety of new programs, including applied psychology and a course focused on AI.

"Colleges are changing the mix of programs they offer because they are trying to meet the needs of the marketplace, and they're responding to the needs of the marketplace, and they're also responding to the different needs of the students," he said.

He added Cambrian is seeing an increase in 'non-direct' students, otherwise known as mature students.

"Students just aren't coming out of high school anymore. They're professionals," Lessard said.

"They're people who were at school before, and now they're having a second or third go at it. So what colleges are doing is trying to respond to that labor demand and that labour need."

More international students at LU

Meanwhile, at Laurentian University, the school actually welcomed 350 more international students than expected, said Malcom Campbell, provost and vice-president academic, at the university.

"We're over the number of students that we had predicted in terms of international students coming to Laurentian University," Campbell said.

"We’re over by a couple of hundred, which is, an impressive number."

Total enrollment at the university is 6,500 and Campbell said domestic students make up a vast majority of that number, but there was a slight decrease this year.

Overall, Campbell said Laurentian hasn’t been impacted greatly by the restrictions.

"There has been an impact on some universities, and I would say even more dramatically to colleges here in Canada, but Laurentian hasn't felt that impact," he said.

"We're well within the numbers that were assigned to us. So, we haven't over-enrolled international students. We've got a good number of international students contributing to that global perspective."

Recently, immigration authorities announced an additional 10 per cent reduction in international student study permits for 2025, but Campbell and Lessard said it’s too early to determine the local impact.