Walking a fine line: education for immigration to Canada

Abstract

This study is an analysis of the impacts of immigration policy on a small teaching-based university in British Columbia (BC), as well as on the international students attending it. Canada’s innovative immigration policies have created a pathway to permanent residency and immigration through education and have become the driving force behind an exponential increase of international students in the country. Although it is an international student’s individual responsibility to navigate through the immigration policies, said policies assign the roles of navigator and gatekeeper to educational institutions which has implications on the role and function of a small teaching-based university. Additionally, this policy analysis highlights the complexity and multi-jurisdictional involvement of various organizations and levels of government, all of which creates an extremely complicated and multifaceted web for international students to navigate.