For Ontario’s international students, the wait is finally over.
Federal immigration minister Joe Volpe and Ontario minister of training Chris Bentley have announced a federal-provincial agreement that would allow international post-secondary students to work off-campus during their enrolment as full-time students.
To be eligible, an international student must have completed six months of full-time study and maintained a full-time status, working no more than 20 hours per week while class is in session.
The announcement, released November 28, comes as a relief to U of T’s international students, who have had to make do with campus-related work to pay their sky-high fees, which were increased by 30 per cent this year.
International students have only been allowed to work at jobs directly affiliated with their university or college while in Canada. U of T international student Alex Schneider, who is studying linguistics and anthropology, remained in Canada for the summer to help his family pay for his education, but finding employment was much more difficult than he had hoped.
“I started looking for jobs early, but without much luck,” says Schneider. “I tried all of the libraries, but found that they had very few summer positions, and they filled the ones available with year-round employees. It seemed that with so many students filling the positions, there was no way to get a job without inside help.”
President David Naylor expressed his appreciation to the agreement in a statement.
“[International students] need and deserve the opportunity to work off-campus. The agreement will not only allow…work opportunities to defray the costs of their education, it also gives them a better-rounded Canadian experience.”
Each post-secondary educational institution that wishes to participate must come to an agreement with the province and make provisions for monitoring reports to ensure that working students are still attending their schools.
Though the agreement is a positive step forward for the province, some students are skeptical, having been given false hope about this agreement several times in the past.
“I would say I am conditionally pretty happy about it, but I don’t expect to actually benefit from it until next September,” said Kathryn Fitzgerald, a U.S. native who is doing her master’s at the faculty of information studies. The plan was first announced in April of 2005, and was supposed to be up and running by September.
“I’m not sure why there need to be so many levels of negotiation. I think it is especially unfortunate that it is taking so long to implement this program given that the university went ahead and raised international student fees by 30 per cent this year, with no provisions in place for additional employment or scholarship opportunities.”
Domestic undergraduate arts and science students with a full course load paid just under $5,000 this year. Their international equivalents now pay over $17,000.
But international students shouldn’t start searching for jobs just yet. The agreement will depend on government funds to run, funds which have not yet been pledged.
“Without federal funding this agreement will flounder,” Naylor says. “We look forward to working with the new government following January’s election to implement this plan.”
