The influx of international students having unintended effects beyond housing

Conestoga College has again found itself at the center of the international student debate. This time, it’s faculty and staff sounding the alarm about burnout and worsening outcomes for students.

A 10 per cent cut to domestic student tuition in 2019 has forced schools to find other ways to recoup that revenue. Many have turned to international student tuition to fill the gap. 

The Kitchener-based college has double the number of international students of any other institution in the country.

Leopold Koff is a union leader representing faculty, counsellors and librarians at Conestoga. He told The Mike Farwell Show while that’s great for the bottom line, it comes with concessions for staff and students.

“The faculty are being pushed to the limit in terms of trying to catch students who are trying to find cheating ways to get through. And, the new technologies and course changes and the new curriculum development that’s gone on. It’s been an influx of radical change but without an apparent output that has an equality benefit.”

He added, “Academic integrity isn’t being supported or maintained.”

Koff said that might damage the school’s reputation.

“All the faculty are deeply, deeply embedded in terms of maintaining the standard. Not just for the graduates now and in the future but previous graduates so that their diplomas still have a standard and a brand that has value for them.”

Koff said there are many students who are too busy working to focus on their studies. They are trying to make ends meet while attending school, but that is leading to a lot of failing grades. That looks bad on the school so it has to come up with ways to ensure those student pass their courses, which leads to questions of academic integrity.

Viki Poirier is the union leader representing support staff at Conestoga. She told The Mike Farwell Show it really all comes down to funding.

“We are a publicly funded institute. If our government can fund our colleges and universities as they should be, then we could probably avoid situations like this in the future.”