In a report this week, auditor Karen Hogan criticised Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), including the method it imposed a cap on the number of trainees starting in January 2024.
“We conclude that the department was not effectively implementing reforms to the International Trainee Program,” she stated.
In Canada, migration is a federal responsibility while the provinces run colleges and universities. This suggests that the 2 levels of federal government need to cooperate on files like international students.
However, Hogan stated this hasn’t happened considering that the federal government revealed that it would allocate the variety of research study permits available to each province.
“We surveyed provincial governments, which revealed general frustration with the level of assessment on program reforms,” she reported. When the provinces were requested for their views, IRCC “supplied no feedback on how their input was considered.”
Even with restrictions on the variety of study permits, many trainee spaces went unfilled. “In 2024, the department authorized less than half of the forecasted variety of new research study permits,” the study found. “This continued in 2025 with simply over 50,000 of the 255,000 anticipated variety of brand-new study permits authorized by September.”
The auditor general lamented that IRCC did not know why approval rates were lower than expected.
Higher education consultant Ken Steele thinks he has the response. He blames IRCC for signalling that international students are not welcome in Canada. “Based on this report, IRCC handled to quash 83% of worldwide interest in Canada as a research study destination in just 20 months,” he told The PIE News.
This auditor general’s report brightens the chaos and clumsiness that prevailed Ken Steele, higher education consultant
“It’s obvious that IRCC should have made a lot more steady changes to fine-tune the circulation of global students,” Steele argues. “This auditor general’s report illuminates the turmoil and clumsiness that prevailed instead.”
International trainees are voting with their feet, Steele states. While Canada when had a growing international education sector, trainees are turning to more inviting nations, such as Ireland and Japan.
The auditor found that smaller provinces were particularly struck by low approval rates, including Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. “All were hit by a 59% or higher reduction in approvals in 2024 compared to 2023,” Hogan said.
The study discovered that 153,000 trainees might not have actually been going to school throughout 2023/24. Nevertheless, IRCC just had the resources to look into one% of these cases. Even these investigations were superficial. About 40% could not be completed since trainees did not respond to requests for more information. IRCC authorities just dropped the probes.
Designated Knowing Institutions (DLIs) are required to send student enrolment reports to the department. While the large majority complied, 50 failed to file in 2025. These represented 10,000 trainees. The auditor general mentioned that IRCC did not impose any consequences on the overdue DLIs.
While acknowledging some of the auditor-general’s concerns, IRCC Minister Lena Metlege Diab asserted in a statement: “The procedures are working, however more can be done.”
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