Sonja Knutson

Introduction

First-year international students in Canada not only need similar supports to domestic students, but they also require additional programming that domestic students do not (Briggs & Ammigan, 2017). This is due to their newcomer status and the complexities and challenges inherent in navigating a new cultural and institutional space. International students are considered a vulnerable population across Canada (Varughese & Schwartz, 2022); they are youth, far from family, often facing housing insecurity, food insecurity, and a myriad of other issues. Regardless of their formal level of English proficiency, in their first year they may struggle with new ways of communicating both verbally and in academic writing, as they respond to the expectations of peers and professors, and the community at large.

On Canadian post-secondary campuses, international student advising offices are tasked with the care and support of international students, providing a hybrid mix of services and programs to assist their educational, cultural, and personal journeys. These international support offices act, in many respects, as navigators for new students whose unfamiliarity with norms and policies can often manifest in discriminatory and even racist responses from the campus community, causing distress and confusion, as well as impediments to academic progress.

Origins of International Education in Canada

The first university office set up to support international students post-World War II was at the University of Toronto (Riddell, 1985) in the 1950s. The 1980s saw Canadian universities and colleges begin to charge differential fees for international students (Friesen, 2009); these new revenue streams represented a windfall for many cash-strapped institutions and a business opportunity for many others. The subsequent decades have seen exponential growth in international student recruitment in what was essentially a free market without much federal oversight, as well as considerable variation in provincial and institutional approaches to international education (El-Masri & Trilokekar, 2016).

The international education aspect of post-secondary education received piecemeal attention from the federal government until Global Affairs Canada oversaw the launch of Canada’s first strategy for international education in 2014 (DFATD, 2014) with an overwhelming focus on bringing international students to Canada as both a means for institutions to earn income and as a strategy to gain skilled citizens in a context of demographic deficits and labour market needs. Despite criticism from scholars such as Trilokekar (2016) who proposed that the approach is a clear exercise in post-colonial exploitation, the international student gravy train continued to grow unabated.

Context of International Education in Canada

Over the past two decades, international students have become a key feature of Canadian post-secondary education institutional strategic enrolment plans, and their associated revenue targets. While researchers such as Jane Knight (2004) outlined rationales for international education as being academic, socio-cultural, political, and economic, there is presently a singular focus on economic motivation, as evidenced by the fact that, for most post-secondary institutions, “internationalization” is a business proposition and not a process to inculcate intercultural values and develop a globally-minded citizenry. Knight (2004), a Canadian-based researcher in International Higher Education, highlighted how over the past few decades, increasingly tight budgets at institutions – largely as a result of governmental reductions in university grants – created a context where international student undergraduate enrolment is sought for fiscal reasons, with little more than tokenism given to the other “soft” rationales.

Current State of International Education in Canada

The number of international students in Canada (at all levels of study) reached 1,040,985 by the end of 2023, with an overwhelming proportion from India (41%), and much smaller numbers from China (10%), Philippines (5%), Nigeria (4%) and France (3%) (CBIE, 2023). The growth closely corresponds to a significant decline in government funding for post-secondary education exacerbated by increased costs in campus operations (Usher, 2023). Domestic tuition has grown modestly over this period (or been frozen in some jurisdictions) whereas – in order to close the budgetary gap – international student fees have been increased by factors disproportionate to domestic increases.

Inevitably, as the international student body has grown, there has been corresponding interest in their presence and the associated benefits and challenges. International students have transitioned from being a small anomalous group on campuses to populations that are integral to post-secondary life: hard-wired into budgets, teaching, learning and research, and pastoral services. As international students are now a vital part of both the fabric of institutions and the communities in which they are located, governments have begun to pay attention to their presence, and not just because of their significance as a source of revenue and human capital but because of a growing political liability.

The lack of mechanisms to manage growth and provide quality control oversight resulted in a scenario wherein international students became a focus of the media, with much speculation that the sheer volume of student migrants was exacerbating inflation and exerting pressure on the rental housing market. In addition to the supposed effect of international students on housing and inflation there was also a parallel narrative concerning the many questionable institutions that appeared to prey on international students and offer them high cost/low quality programs with few supports. Clearly something had to give.

The situation caused outcries and appeared to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment in some arenas. As a result, in 2024, the federal government determined it needed to temper what was perceived to be an out-of-control free-for-all, some provinces being more culpable than others (Usher, 2024). The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) placed a cap on the number of visas to be issued, proportional to provincial population; reducing the national volume by approximately 35%. At the time of this writing, Canada has yet to see the results of the caps on study permits but the policy has appeared to put a damper on the global international education seekers. Prior to 2024 Canada was seen as having the most open door of all international student destination countries, this is now no longer the case. In addition to the cap on numbers, a preceding policy shift doubled the amount of cash that international students have to demonstrate they can access prior to being issued a visa. The cap and cash increases will undoubtedly reduce numbers (perhaps also the struggles of students who have difficulty making ends meet) but it will be a few years before the true impact of these changes will be seen in official statistics and enrollment data.

Who are international students?

The Canadian government defines international students as “non-Canadian students who do not have ’permanent resident’ status and have had to obtain the authorization of the Canadian government to enter Canada with the intention of pursuing an education” (StatsCan, 2010). Ergo, international students are a diverse group with respect to the status of their ‘permission with obligations’ to enter and stay in Canada.

In the case of short-term language or cultural study programs, no study permit is required and these students may enter Canada as visitors. Degree or diploma students and high school students arrive on study permits, or short-term visas if they are here to learn English or French. Some international students are accompanied to Canada by their parents, spouse, and/or children. Study permits allow international students to be employed both on and off campus, and under most degree seeking students receive a post-graduate work permit upon graduation, enabling them to stay in Canada to gain work experience or to embark on a pathway to permanent residence.

Although the category of ‘international student’ is based on the above narrow definition (essentially their visa status), the manner in which international students are supported and treated once inside the country varies widely. In the eyes of some federal government departments, such as the Canada Revenue Agency, they are seen as residents with respect to services and obligations. They also may be deemed to be residents of the province where they live, but the services and supports available may differ from department to department. For example, some provinces also deem international students as eligible for provincial medical plans, while others make do on emergency foreign health plans. In some jurisdictions, students from some countries are allowed to easily convert an existing driver’s license to permit them to drive in Canada, while others must go through lengthy and expensive processes for obtaining a driver’s license.

The Role of International Student Services

International students arrive via a process which is a federal responsibility, and which determines their permission to enter the country. Once they have arrived, the responsibility for their sojourn in Canada is that of the province in which they reside and the institution they attend. Most (if not all) public universities and colleges in Canada have an office designated with staff that support the international student journey from pre-arrival to post-graduation. Post-secondary international student support offices could be part of an overall student services department, part of a registrar’s office, or separate, reporting to a campus lead on internationalization.

Not only must international student support service offices navigate the complexities of having the world at their doors, but they must also find their way through the maze that Canadian federalism produces and communicate these issues successfully to newcomer students. Ostensibly, the international student advisor role provides support for visa advising, health insurance advising, arrivals, orientation, housing supports, job finding, and crisis supports. However, the role has grown in complexity due to ever shifting IRCC policies as well as geopolitical and pan-global economic issues.

Canada does not currently track or benchmark the levels of support or even the types of staff roles in an international student support office. This has led to significant unevenness in how these offices are funded and staffed. It is a real challenge to consider best practice for such offices when there is variability between institutional budgets and senior level commitment to international student supports across the country. For example, what is a reasonable case load for an immigration advisor? Should all support offices have a crisis counselor on staff? Should career staff be embedded in the office, or should they be part of career services? Without national benchmark data, international student support offices are vulnerable to being under-resourced and understaffed, which results in international students being under-served.

In this context of variability in how international students are supported, it is important to recognize that the vast majority of international students – but not all – are racialized (Usher, 2023). Thus, when considering programming to support students, staff with expertise and experience in anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion, and general understanding of cultural communication issues are key. Furthermore, the experience of coming out, or transitioning, for international student youth who identify with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, requires very skillful support staff. These youth, who have experienced marginalization due to oppressive gender and sexual orientation regimes, are now looking for a safe country to live freely and openly. The fact that these students could be charged with crimes at home places an increasingly complex responsibility on international student services. Students may also have open or hidden disabilities or traumas which may or may not be supported by their health insurance plans. International students are being recognized as an increasingly complex population with intersecting identities and vulnerabilities. The consequent pressure on international student services to provide supports that enable international students to successfully navigate their educational pathways and oftentimes to provide a duty of care with respect to the personal journeys that entering a new culture and political regime triggers.

International students are considered ‘vulnerable youth’ and ‘vulnerable newcomers’ – categories which gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic when broad-based community discussions were held (Varghese & Schwartz, 2022). They are disadvantaged by a lack of family close by, financial concerns, food and housing insecurity, balancing work with study, and the fact that as temporary residents they are ineligible for numerous programs and scholarships both on and off campus. These represent a few of the complex items that international students, and thus the advisors that support them, must manage.

Who are the stakeholders in international student support programs?

As will be clear from previous sections, there are many external stakeholders engaged in international student programs:

• Federal government departments and agencies such as Global Affairs Canada, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canadian Border Services Agency are key to international arrival. However other federal departments and agencies also have roles to play with international education such as the Canada Revenue Agency, Employment and Social Development Canada, the Atlantic Cooperation Opportunities Agency, and the Tri-Council for research.

• Provincial departments of education, health, innovation, and immigration, as well as the bodies that oversee motor vehicle registration and driver’s licenses, landlord and tenant issues, and some accreditation bodies (for example evaluation of teaching credentials and such). With new IRCC policies, the provinces will also be engaged in the initial study permit applications of students overseas.

• Municipal governments also have policies and practices that either support or create barriers for international students in terms of snow clearing policies, public transit, availability of low-income housing, and employer associations.

• Non-governmental agencies (such as MITACS, WUSC, Scholars at Risk) as well as local communities may provide certain limited supports for international education. Local associations may support finding childcare, a family doctor, suitable housing, food banks, language training, entrepreneurship, and the like.

The above provides quite a list already of off-campus stakeholders, and when it comes to on-campus and associated stakeholders, the list is equally comprehensive and takes in all elements of the learning journey, from awareness to application to admission to arrival to on-boarding to academic life and finally graduation. Most units on campus will have interactions with the international student.

Students first become aware of an educational opportunity, whether by speaking to a recruitment agency or direct representative of the institution. Once an application has been made, then the admissions process takes place and if eligible the student is issued a letter of acceptance in compliance with IRCC guidance. Officials at Canadian posts abroad take over at this point to examine the student file and determine whether to grant the student a letter of invitation to Canada.

Once a student has been admitted and cleared for travel to Canada, international offices kick in with supports for the on-boarding of the student prior to their actual arrival on Canadian soil. The interaction is designed to ensure that as much as possible is done prior to travel so that the student is well prepared for their new academic experience, customs, and climate. The dialogue with a newly accepted student runs the gamut from questions about housing, living costs, religious accommodation, the availability of certain foods, immigration, employment, and so forth. When international students have arrived on campus, faculty in the classroom and lab become their key focus; the reason they have undertaken this life-changing and costly endeavour is to enhance their credentials.

Outside the classroom students may access residence life programming, career advising, library services, meal plans, and fitness & well-being services. These require a thoughtful approach to encompassing and including the cultural diversity presented by a global clientele. Given the national crisis with respect to health care access, counsellors and clinics at the institution may provide the only medical and psychological supports that an international student can access, thus they need to be skilled in global health issues and cultural sensitivity, as well as know how both private and public health insurance coverage works and what is and is not included.

International offices generally offer students immigration advising, health insurance advising, arrival supports, orientation and referrals to career pathway advice, academic supports, housing supports, financial advice, and emergency supports for crises that may arise. While domestic students may access some of these supports also, it is important to note that there are issues of complexity, culture, and compliance that make first-year international student supports different from other campus supports.

What Programs and Services are in Place to Support First-Year International Students?

As previously mentioned, international student programs and services may vary with the size and capacity of an institution, but should be embedded in their stated values, appropriately resourced, and considered a pan-campus responsibility (Briggs & Ammigan, 2017). Budgets are a key issue when it comes to international student services – commitments made by campus stakeholders and senior administration in times of abundance can disappear without warning when budgets tighten.

It is also important to keep in mind, “nothing about us without us” when planning first-year international student supports, not forgetting the words of Battiste, Bell and Findlay (2002), that sometimes the “supports” provided by the institution are “primarily about the insiders and how much or how little they will have to adjust their practices and share their privileges in order to ‘respond’ to (by once again determining) outsiders ’needs’.” (p. 83). This is challenging because first-year international students are busy with many obligations and stressors, and may also be reluctant to share frank opinions with their hosts. Yet most campuses have international student associations along with student union representatives that can provide input and help ensure supports avoid the trappings of re-colonization and assimilation.

In the absence of data on the composition, funding and roles of international student support offices, this next section shares thoughts on what could be termed best practice or promising practice. These practices are drawn from the two decades-long observations and experiences of this chapter’s author. The author has been an instructor and trainer in international education both in Canada and internationally for 20 years, having taught in multiple contexts, from conference workshops to graduate programs. The best practices presented below reflect the combined and distilled knowledge of more than 800 student/participants who took part in the author’s workshops and classes.

Immigration Advising

In Canada, advice on studying and working in the country can only be provided by regulated immigration consultants. Domestic students who need immigration advice for studying, working, or volunteering abroad can access this advice from the learning abroad office, but for international students, this work takes place in a highly regulated environment, with unique obligations on both sides. Institutions have to invest in hiring and maintaining the professional development for their immigration advisors, and international students must comply with all aspects of their temporary status responsibilities. Best practice here is a response time to international students seeking immigration advice of 24-48 hours. This is indeed challenging in terms of adequate staffing, but due to the nature of the work, delays in response time have significant consequences for the international student.

Health Insurance

Again, this is important for both international and domestic students, but for international students, maintaining health insurance – whether public, private, or a combination of both – is complex. International student support offices generally provide this advice, often working with government departments, private insurance companies, and students’ unions. Best practice here is for a province to provide international students with public health access and mandatory supplementary health care to be extended to students either through the international office, the students’ union, or a provincial plan.

Arrival

The arrival and first night experience in their new home is a significant time for first-year students. The journey is often the longest they have taken in their lives and jetlag, fatigue, fear, and loneliness often make this a negative experience. They may also be hungry, as some airlines only provide food in economy class to those with a credit card. Exhaustion, hunger, and uncertainty can be mitigated that first night by frequent contact with new arrivals to ensure they have temporary accommodations booked and are met at the airport by staff holding a sign and a snack bag. Best practice for arrivals is for students to be met by a university representative to immediately create a feeling of welcome and safety, as well as practicalities like food and drink, that can mitigate the overall discomfort and anxiety of landing in a new place.

Orientation

Models for first-year orientation range from a pre-semester week to inclusion in regular orientation with specific international information provided pre- or post-arrival. The pre-semester week is best practice but costly, and in some institutions, it is not possible to host newcomers in the week prior to the commencement of the semester due to lack of residence space. Many institutions provide pre-arrival orientation webinars to students, while they are still home and receptive to new information. Regularly scheduled general orientation events often conflict with newly arriving students’ needs to secure permanent accommodations, set up bank accounts, apply for social insurance numbers, get a provincial health card, buy their books, and generally get settled. It cannot be overstated how challenging it is for young people to arrive in a new country and arrange all the logistical pieces necessary prior to the start of classes. Best practice is bringing international students to the campus for a week of intensive orientation prior to the start of classes. For those institutions where the logistics simply do not work, pre-arrival webinars are good practice.

Academic Advising

Models for academic advising also range from dedicated programs for the first-year experience to ad hoc appointments initiated by the new student. Best practice is wrap-around academic support for the first-year experience. Again, this is costly and in tight budgetary times can be seen as “nice to do” but not essential. Yet international students, regardless of country of origin, will face significant academic acculturation issues: following lectures, participating in group work, understanding assignments, academic writing, and knowing where and how to seek help. Best practice is post-arrival check-ins with all new first-year students to ensure they are doing well. This could be carried out by the international office, which then can triage responses and help students make appointments with the academic advising staff.

Career Counselling

Most institutions provide career guidance, work-integrated learning, and personal counselling to all students. International students can benefit from these supports but they need to be tailored both with skillful intercultural understanding and to “begin where the student is”. An international student may not have previously held a part-time job when they start university, for example. Interventions in resume writing, interview skills, etc. may need to begin at an earlier stage than a domestic student. Many domestic students have taken a career course in high school, done volunteer work, or held part-time jobs. They also have existing networks through parents and friends. This is often not the case with international students. Best practice is a shared position between the international student support office and the career advising office. This type of arrangement ensures that whether an international student seeks career advice at the career centre or the international office, there is a culturally skilled advisor to assist.

Personal Counselling

While counselling is a regulated profession and available to both international and domestic students, the strategies presented by counsellors may contain implicit expectations around what students know how to do (journal writing for example). Counsellors working with international students in distress need to avoid assumptions and start at the beginning when working to help students gain skills and strategies to manage issues. One new area of international student counselling support is being offered by private health insurance companies via downloadable applications to a student’s mobile phone. These programs can provide counselling care in students’ own languages and employ the cultural lens of the student. Best practice is a culturally inclusive counselling team, supplemented by an online smartphone app that students can use to seek help at any time.

Peer Mentors

Well-trained peer mentors can be of significant assistance to first-year students by acting as a bridge between the new student and the new environment. They employ their own lived experience, in addition to training to help them identify emergent issues and connecting to timely institutional support. They can assist newcomers to begin to create new networks and help explain why certain obstacles or misunderstandings occur. Peer mentor programs are best practice, but the formalized training of these peer supports is critical with frequent check-ins with staff at the institution, to avoid misinformation being inadvertently shared.

Residence Life

First-year students living on campus are not only able to avail themselves of a wide range of supports but also being under the supervision of residence staff ensures timely interventions when newcomers face problems. Certainly, it is best practice for first-year international students to live on campus. However, sometimes new applicants miss residence application deadlines, or cannot afford the costs of residences and meal plans. This often results in the international office taking on the off-campus housing support for new international students. In these cases, first-year students in sub-standard housing often only approach the international office when problems have reached a crisis. Best practice is dedicated on-campus housing space for first-year international students to live with some supervision and support as they adjust to the first-year experience.

Student Crisis Support

First-year students face numerous types of crises, and because they are new, they may not know where to go for assistance. Newcomers face financial issues, immigration obstacles, academic problems, crises in their overseas home (family or geopolitical), loneliness, culture shock, mental health issues, overwork, and physical problems, to name a few. The earlier these crises are brought to supportive institutional representatives, the less the impact is on the newcomer. One of the most challenging aspects for first-year international students is remaining full-time registered (to maintain legal status) as they endure a time of crisis. Some institutions permit a formalized undergraduate leave of absence process, which can mitigate the loss of their legal status in Canada. Best practice is a triage type unit embedded in the international student support office, which can assist students to connect to the immediate help they need, but also track obstacles and issues within the institution in order to advocate and shift the institution towards more inclusive policies.

The Role of Students’ Unions and Associations

Students’ unions and associations are key stakeholders on campus and can provide advocacy supports for systemic issues at both the institutional and government levels that are not possible for post-secondary staff.  They can help newcomers navigate university policies and advocate for change in areas where there is systemic discrimination (for example, policies based on domestic student norms). Student-run clubs and societies also play an important role in helping first-year students gain friendships and new networks. Student unions also sometimes provide health insurance, connections to legal advice, daycare, 2SLGBTQIA+ supports, and direct international student services. Best practice for international student support offices is to engage regularly with students’ unions, to support their education about international student needs, to seek advocacy on behalf of students facing discrimination on campus, and to partner on the many issues faced by both domestic and international students.

Pedagogical Supports for Instructors

First-year students spend the bulk of their days in class. Supportive classroom experiences, where first-year international students feel welcomed and begin to grow their sense of belonging at the institution, is the most important factor in student success. However, there is often a disconnect in that the instructor may have little knowledge of the importance of their role beyond disciplinary teaching.

Best practice is the provision of supports for instructors to understand ways they can improve the experience of international students in their classrooms. However, there are many other newly arising issues for instructors, such as reduced class participation related to COVID recovery, ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence impacting evaluation, and so on. International student pedagogical needs may not be priorities in the current classroom context. Best practice is for faculty and staff at the university to be offered sessions on working with international students in the classroom. These sessions may appeal to the “choir” but if carried out with regularity and professionalism, can also begin to reach a broader spectrum of the campus community.

Conclusions

There are numerous challenges faced by first-year international students, from the point they decide to embark on the journey while still in their home countries, to the navigation of study permits, arrival and orientation, settling in, finding new networks, and succeeding in their first year. Stakeholders are numerous and not always supportive. The Canadian government policy shifts are confusing and perceived as unwelcoming. Many institutional policies and processes are based on domestic student norms and slow to adapt to international student realities. New global issues distract instructors from focusing on supporting newcomers in their classrooms. Considering all the obstacles, it is remarkable how resilient and successful many international first-year students are. But many do face significant trauma and insurmountable issues which could be mitigated.

The offices that provide the frontline support to international students are also vulnerable to stakeholder disinterest, budget cuts, fossilized institutional policies and constantly changing national policies. First year international students need these supports to thrive and institutions need to (re) invest in inclusive and best practice supports for first-year international students and thus ensure they are part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

References

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