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The British Columbia government has launched an independent review into funding sustainability for the public post-secondary education system, at a time when universities are facing layoffs and mounting operation costs amid declining international student enrolment since the federal government introduced a cap on international student visas in 2024.
Jessie Sunner, B.C.’s minister of post-secondary education, says that in addition to the federal cap on study permits, declining domestic enrolment and global economic challenges are resulting in financial stress and layoffs at post-secondary schools.
“I’ve heard clearly that the current system is not sustainable,” said Sunner.
The province has appointed Don Avison, a former B.C. deputy education minister, to lead the review, which will result in a report and recommendations set to be delivered by March 15.
However, groups representing post-secondary students and faculty have expressed concern, including B.C.’s plan to conduct the review in less than four months and without additional funding.
Sunner said the province does not currently have plans to provide new financial support to struggling institutions. Since 2016, she said, B.C. has increased provincial operating grants to universities by $1.2 billion.
“There’s been significant investment in this sector,” she said. “Where we are right now, with our economic situation — not just in B.C. but across the country — we’re not in a position to provide any kind of additional funding to the sector.”
No final report was released publicly for a 2022 review into the funding model for B.C.’s post-secondary schools.
Solomon Yi-Kieran, vice-president of external affairs at the University of British Columbia’s student society, spoke at a rally of Alliance of B.C. Students members in front of the legislature.
They said that four months, with much of that time falling during the government’s winter break, isn’t enough time for meaningful consultation and work on this review.
“We are fundamentally opposed to how this process has been designed,” Yi-Kieran said.
“The minister’s statement mentions improving efficiency by reducing duplications, which seems to suggest that universities and colleges could be merged, consolidated, or even closed. This will affect generations of students, thousands of union workers, and impact B.C.’s economies for decades to come.”
Yi-Kieran said they and other students fear that one casualty of the review could be the two-per-cent cap on tuition increases for domestic students.
“Students are visiting campus food banks in record numbers, working multiple jobs and skipping meals just to afford tuition,” they said.
“A review that ends in higher tuition or fewer services is not a neutral policy choice, it is a direct attack on students who are barely hanging on.”
Brent Calvert, president of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of B.C., says he is glad post-secondary schools are getting the province’s attention. But he shares students’ concerns about the timeframe for the review, as well as the lack of additional funding.
“In one sense, you can look at this news and say, ‘Well, this is great,'” said Calvert.
“But the fact that the holistic review has ruled out an injection of capital to help with some of the short-term problems is concerning.”
He says the toll of funding challenges is already being felt across B.C. schools. Contract faculty faced significant layoffs last year, said Calvert, and many tenured faculty and staff are now worried about their jobs ahead of the next semester.
Since 2018, Calvert says, the federation has been raising the alarm about universities’ reliance on international students for funding – and the province reviewed the funding model for universities most recently in 2022.
“I do want people to know that the B.C. government had a hand in this as well,” he said.
“They point to the federal government’s policies around immigration, but the B.C. government had explicit policies telling post-secondary institutions in B.C. to solve their revenue problems by attracting more international students.”
