CBIE BOARD OF DIRECTORS COMMUNIQUÉ
Given the fluid and uncertain policy environment confronting Canada’s international education (IE) sector, the timing of CBIE’s Feb. 22-23, 2024 Board of Directors strategic retreat was especially propitious. It provided an opportunity to take stock of how the current period of instability is affecting the sector and what the next two-years hold absent a more holistic policy framework for IE in Canada.
In the Board’s view, it is imperative for Canada’s IE community to acknowledge what changes are required-individually and collectively-to avoid another round of unilateral, top-down measures based on the narrow set of policy instruments available to the federal government. Capping enrolment wasn’t the right answer, and still isn’t the answer. It has damaged Canada’s IE brand, created unhealthy tensions within the sector and across jurisdictions, and has marginalized prospective international students who have followed all the rules.
To that end the Board has directed CBIE to accelerate its ongoing efforts to engage and support our 150+ members in the implementation of student-centred ethical and sustainable IE practices.
The Board also emphasized the need for a measured, balanced approach to IE planning that better positions the sector to adapt to an unstable policy and operating environment. It noted that while Canada’s education institutions are already delivering a high-quality IE experience and producing qualified and employment-ready graduates, they can do more by further strengthening their engagement with host communities and partners and by sharing best-practices. For institutions that have increased enrolment exponentially without concomitant investments in their ability to provide adequate supports to international students, the Board encourages them to recalibrate recruitment and intake to reflect capacity for effective onboarding and to avail themselves of the training, tools, and expertise CBIE provides.
The Board also encouraged host communities to develop more effective and inclusive plans that acknowledge, leverage, and celebrate the contributions to community, social and economic vitality that international students provide.
The Board expressed concern that while part of the rationale for the temporary cap on IE enrolment is to allow time to realign policies and programs to maintain a welcoming and supportive environment for international students, there is no working definition of what “welcoming and supportive” means. In the Board’s view, this is essential for defining expectations for institutions, host communities and employers, for “designated” learning institutions and for the EduCanada Brand itself.
Finally, the Board invited all levels of government to work more collaboratively to develop and proactively share complete and consistent data on IE to set reasonable growth targets, monitor, evaluate and report on IE success. The Board noted that decision-makers cannot improve what they cannot measure and that this must change if the goal is to have evidence informed IE policies and programming.
Following its February strategic retreat, the Board of Directors announced CBIE’s intention to convene senior leaders from across Canada’s international education sector to participate in a National Policy Dialogue on Ethical and Sustainable IE in Canada. The timing of the National Dialogue-May 2024- underscores the urgency for IE stakeholders and partners to reach consensus on a sustainable, ethical, accountable, and student-centric vision and framework for Canada’s IE sector. Further details respecting this National Dialogue will be shared with invited participants in the coming weeks.
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