High Refusal Rates on Study Permits, An Issue at Francophone Universities

Nadia Barrou, who has been an immigration lawyer for over 25 years, points to another phenomenon that could be working against African applicants. She says private professional schools have multiplied in Canada in recent years, targeting the African market because so many young people there are interested in studying abroad. These professional programs have been very successful because they are less expensive and don’t take as long as university studies.

Third-party recruiters find students for these schools in exchange for big commissions. “Schools lowered their tuition fees to stay competitive and shelled out increasingly high commissions to recruiters, so there wasn’t much leftover to fund their programs,” says Ms. Barrou. “Few of their graduates are working in their field. Enrolling in these schools was mostly a vehicle for getting into Canada.”

The federal government’s counterstrategy was to limit the number of permits allotted for these programs. “So the third-party recruiters started advising students to get accepted to a university and then transfer to a professional school once they’re in the country,” explains Ms. Barrou. “This fuelled distrust toward African student applications and contributed to the surge in the refusal rate.”

The standing committee report includes no fewer than 35 recommendations to address the differential treatment of applications from Africa. One of the most important is to establish an ombudsperson’s office at IRCC. “We’ve been asking for it for a long time and we hope it will finally materialize,” says Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe. “One of the main problems we point to in the report is the lack of transparency in IRCC’s processes and reasons for refusal. An ombudsperson would help rectify that.”

The report also recommends improving the mechanisms for validating future international students’ financial information, providing a comprehensive plan on how to reduce the high rates of refusal for francophone student visas, streamlining the application process, speeding up processing times and clarifying how dual intent works.

Preserving Canada’s reputation

Dan Weber, senior director of innovation and strategy with ApplyBoard, a Canadian company that helps international students apply for postsecondary study abroad, believes Canada stands to miss out if it does not improve the way applications from Africa are processed. “Many African countries have long been experiencing a demographic boom. Their population is young, and these countries are struggling to meet demand for high-quality university studies,” he says. “This is a great opportunity for Canada as it tries to recruit more international students and welcome more immigrants.”

“Competition for international students remains strong, so if Canada doesn’t treat applicants well, it could tarnish our reputation in certain regions.”

Canada has developed an enviable reputation over the years by creating conditions favourable to foreign students – such as the ability to work during and after their studies. But many other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, have also beefed up their efforts. “Competition for international students remains strong, so if Canada doesn’t treat applicants well, it could tarnish our reputation in certain regions,” says Mr. Weber.

One thing is clear: Canada’s French-language institutions have no intention of giving up. “Quite the contrary. We are continuously ramping up our recruitment efforts, especially in countries with high refusal rates, in the hopes that acceptance levels will start going up,” says Université Laval spokesperson Jérôme Pelletier. “We hope the improvements proposed in the standing committee’s report will help do just that.”

PUBLISHED BY
Jean-François Venne
Jean-François Venne is a Montreal-based journalist specializing in education, research, innovation and business.