International students coming to the Maritimes from select parts of Africa are being stopped at the door, according to the Nigerian-Canadian Association of New Brunswick.
President Adebayo Ogunleye said international students looking to come from his home country of Nigeria have been treated unfairly compared with other countries.
Ogunleye said students who had their applications approved by New Brunswick Community College had letters sent back months later saying they would not be attending school for the academic year because they were not on campus in time.
“NBCC gave an initial deadline of December,” the Saint John resident said in an interview with Global News on Monday.
“They wouldn’t be able to wait for the students anymore, and their applications had been revoked.”
According to Ogunleye, many of the students had been waiting for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to return visa applications. He said students were told that the college had met its cap, thus revoking some applications.
Global News reached out to the New Brunswick Community College, which responded with a statement saying that there are many factors as to why a specific country would be capped.
“When setting strategic enrolment targets for countries of citizenship, NBCC considers many factors, including program availability, visa processing times and approval rates, under-represented regions, diversity of the study body, and more,” said Mary Butler, NBCC’s president, in a statement.
“We are reviewing our enrolment strategies, admissions processes, and student services to ensure we are well-positioned for continued responsible and sustainable enrolment that supports our students, staff, and communities.”
The college did respond to inquiries on revoked applications or answer questions about its cap on students.
More approvals
According to IRCC, study permit approvals have spiked between 2019 and 2023. Approvals for Nigeria went from 2,788 in 2019 to 23,930 in 2023 and more than doubled between 2022 and 2023.
Additionally, permits for Ghana quadrupled between 2022 and 2023.
The situation has prompted some schools, like Nova Scotia Community College, to cap how many applicants from the area can be admitted to their institutions.
According to Jill Provoe, the academic and equity vice-president at NSCC, the community college has nearly 6,000 applicants from Nigeria alone for the 2024 academic year.
The college only takes 1,183 regular students from all countries.
“We have more students from Nigeria at NSCC than any other country,” Provoe said in an interview.
“So we do welcome them, but given an increase of 400 per cent over five years, we’re seeing more and more students coming our way without doing any international recruitment.”
In 2018, applicants from Nigeria increased from nine per cent of international applicants in 2018 to 42 per cent of international applicants in 2023 across Canada.
Ghana had an increase from two per cent to 10 per cent.
NSCC says it hopes to process all 6,000 applications from Nigeria.