Paying the Price for Marketization: The international student ‘crash’ and post-secondary education in BC

This webinar will

• Provide a quick history of international student policy building and how differential fees came to be;
• Explore how those fees changed the post-secondary system and created a policy context at the government level that drew institutions into the immigration system more broadly;
• Examine what has transpired since 2020, and why international student policy has changed so radically; and
• Share ideas about what faculty/staff might do to help build a more sustainable future for public post-secondary education in the province.

Dale McCartney is an Associate Professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, where he teaches introduction to university courses to UFV’s non-traditional student population. Before joining UFV he worked for more than a decade as a sessional on the edges of the BC post-secondary system, including at a pathway college serving exclusively international students. His research examines the history of international student policy in Canada. 

Lisa Brunner is a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies in Vancouver, Canada, on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm territory. She studies the intersection of education and migration, particularly international student mobility, the role of educational institutions as migration actors, and citizenship education. She is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, Public Policy Consultant for the Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of BC (AMSSA), and previously worked for over a decade as an international student advisor. She contributes to national policy discussions through policy briefs, media engagement, and expert testimony before the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.