Nova Scotia Province has released international student allocations for post-secondary institutions, following the federal government’s changes to its international study permit program to decrease the number of international students coming to Canada.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced changes to its international study permit program on January 22. Each Canadian province has been assigned a share of the total national number of study permit applications, and each provincial government determines how to distribute its allotment among its educational sectors and institutions.
The Canadian federal government provided Nova Scotia with the total number of students allowed under the new program cap and required the Province to distribute them among its institutions. The number of study permit applications for Nova Scotia is 12,900 this year, down about 7,000 from last year. They will be distributed among 32 designated learning institutions.
- 11,565 to the province’s 10 universities and Nova Scotia Community College
- 710 to a dozen private career colleges
- 526 to nine language schools.
The Province will hold back 99 application spaces to allow for some flexibility to respond to unexpected circumstances and new programs. International post-secondary students who are currently studying in Nova Scotia and those planning to pursue a master’s or doctoral degree do not require a provincial attestation letter
Institutions can now ask for attestation letters from the Province for first-year international students they have accepted. The letter confirms the student falls within the cap and must be included with the student’s application for a study permit from the federal government.
As part of the Province’s one-year agreements with universities announced last month, they must develop international student sustainability plans outlining how these students will be recruited, housed and connected to the labour market.