Canada: Nova Scotia Has Been Allocated 12,900 Study Permits for Int'l Students, 7,000 Fewer Than 2023

The Canadian government has allocated 12,900 study permits to Nova Scotia for 2024, which is 7,000 fewer than the previous year.

There were nearly 16,000 international students in Nova Scotia as of October 2023 who were enrolled in full-time post-secondary courses, Erudera.com reports.

“The number of study permit applications for Nova Scotia is 12,900 this year, down about 7,000 from last year. They will be distributed among 32 designated learning institutions (those approved to accept international students),” the government of Nova Scotia said in a statement.

Designated learning institutions (DLIs) in Canada are educational institutions that have received approval from the provincial or territorial government to enroll international students.

Study permits in the Nova Scotia are allocated as follows:

• 11,565 study permits for 10 universities and Nova Scotia Community College
• 710 study permits for a dozen private career colleges
• 526 study permits for nine language schools

Commenting on the numbers, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Advanced Education, Brian Wong, highlighted the importance of international students to the province’s growth and efforts to offer these students a good experience while studying, living, and working in the province.

“We’ve taken a thoughtful approach to allocating the federal cap across the province, considering many factors like enrollment in our high-needs programs and managing growth in communities. That said, we will continue to advocate for a greater allocation from the federal government,” Wong said.

According to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Nova Scotia has 41 designated learning institutions. Ontario has the highest number of DLIs in Canada — 530 in total.

The province says it will reserve 99 application spaces to accommodate any unexpected circumstances.

Canada has imposed a two-year cap on international student visas this year, expected to result in nearly 360,000 approved study permits, a 35 percent drop from 2023. The cap, which will be in effect for 2024 and 2025, has been set in a bid to ease the housing crisis and target the “bad actors.”

Official data indicate that Canada issued over 650,000 study permits to international students over the past year, taking the total number of international students in the country to a record high - more than one million.

There were 1,040,985 international students studying in Canada by the end of 2023, the Canadian Bureau for International Education reveals. This represents a 29 percent increase from 2022, a 63 percent increase in five years and more than 200 percent in over a decade.

More from Erudera News:

>> What We Know About Canada’s New Rules for International Students in 2024

>> Are International Students Responsible for Canada’s Housing Crisis?

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