Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Anthony Corea

TRU INTERNATIONAL

TRU sees drop in international students for fall semester

Sep 20, 2024 | 7:00 PM

KAMLOOPS – With the school year starting up, Thompson Rivers University once again welcomed close to 4,300 international students from 109 countries around the world. However, that total is a slight decrease from last year.

“We are happy about this number,” TRU World Vice President Baihua Chadwick told CFJC Today. “It is meeting our strategic enrollment management goal. However, compared with the last fall semester, it is a decrease. Last fall, we were welcoming 4,600 to almost 4,700 international students.”

The slight decrease is possibly due to the temporary cap to reduce the number of new student visas by more than one-third this year. The reductions are not stopping there, with the Liberal government announcing Wednesday (Sept. 18) that it will slash the number of international student permits issued by another ten per cent, cutting the study permit application intake from 485,000 in 2024 to 437,000 next year and in 2026.

“The message has been sent out to the international community that Canada has been and will be and continues to be, proactively reducing the number of international students,” said Chadwick. “Obviously, this is going to have an impact on all higher ed institutions in Canada. Specifically, the impact on TRU will further decrease our new enrollment looking into the next few years.”

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In the past, the university welcomed large student populations from India, Nigeria, China and Iran. However, the recent changes may impact where TRU looks next.

“We are seeing a change in the major source countries. We will proactively go to regions and countries where they are less sensitive to these changes,” continued Chadwick. “For example, I see that, we will be proactively working in Latin America so we’re hoping that our effort will yield results.”

Chadwick does want to stress the announcements seem to suggest they won’t have a huge impact on the current international student’s eligibility for there post-graduate work permit program.