Page 6 - StudyTravel Magazine April 2024 Issue

WORLDWIDE

Canada topped one million study Dutch unis unveil measures
permit holders in 2023 to limit recruitment
LANGUAGE SECONDARY TERTIARY ASSOCIATED TERTIARY
here were more than one million study permit holders in he 14 member institutions of the
Canada for the first time at the end of 2023 after a 29 per Universities in the Netherlands www.
Tcent increase over the previous year, according to data Tuniversiteitenvannederland.nl have
released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). announced their own measures to reduce
Canada hosted 1,040,985 study permit holders – across all edu- international student intakes.
cational levels – as of 31st December 2023, compared with 804,370 The commitment comes while the govern-
at the end of 2022. ment is working on its Balanced Internation-
The data release follows the government’s recent announce- alisation Act to control
ment that study permits will be capped for the next two years as student flows.
a measure to ease pressure on housing costs and availability (see Universities have
STM, March 2024, p.2). said that they will
India accounted for 447,085 of study permit holders at the end reduce international
of 2023, following an increase of 34.1 per cent over the previous enrolment on bachelor
year. China remained second with 102,150 permit holders, a 2.7 per programmes and called for a government-
cent increase, followed by the Philippines with 48,870 (+51.2 per imposed ‘control instrument’ that will only apply
cent) and Nigeria with 47,965 (+113.2). to English-taught bachelors and not Dutch
More than half of all study permits holders at the end of equivalents of the same degree.
December were in Ontario (539,480), followed by British Columbia UNL members have agreed that they will not
(204,100) and Quebec (117,745). recruit international students at fairs and will
There were a record 684,385 study permits issued in 2023, only actively recruit students on courses asso-
according to the IRCC data, an increase of 24.7 per cent over the ciated with large labour market shortages.
previous year and a 70.8 per cent rise compared with 400,590 in Institutions have also agreed to withdraw
the pre-pandemic year of 2019. preparation year programmes designed for
India accounted for 278,860 students whose secondary education is not
permits issued in 2023, an increase equivalent to Dutch pre-university education.
of 23.5 per cent. There were 58,540 Universities have said they will increase
study permits issued to Chinese stu- the number of bachelor programmes offered
dents, a 12.9 per cent rise over the in Dutch. They will investigate which English-
previous year and the highest since taught programmes can be converted entirely
before the Covid-19 outbreak. Nigeria, the Philippines and Nepal all into Dutch, and committed to not developing
recorded significant growth in visas issued. any new English-taught bachelors for two years.
There were 528,825 study permits issued for study at post- Currently 70 per cent of bachelor pro-
secondary level, 23.4 per cent more than in the previous year. grammes are taught in Dutch, and 18 per cent of
Secondary or below students accounted for 112,725 permits, an those also have an English version. Read the full
increase of 37.9 per cent. Read more at: bit.ly/3T8OKDh story at: bit.ly/3UNBepN

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