The local impact is being assessed after the federal government announced new restrictions that will see international student admissions capped for two years on Monday.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the cap will cut the number of approved study permits to 364,000 in 2024, representing a 35 per cent decrease from 2023. The 2025 limit will be reassessed at the end of this year.
Miller said some provinces, including Ontario, will see admissions reduced by 50 per cent or more.
Lambton College, which welcomes thousands of international students each year, received no advance notice of the announcement, according to Interim Senior Director of Community Engagement Marilyn Mason.
"At Lambton College, we're really proud of our international education program and the way our international students are so successful and contribute so much to our community," said Mason.
In August, Lambton College was expecting 2,900 international students for the 2023-2024 school year. With total enrolment projected at about 5,000 students, individuals from foreign countries represented well over half the student population.
Mason told Sarnia News Today on Monday, the Sarnia-Lambton campus currently has about 1,900 international students enrolled.
"We are collaborating very closely with our provincial colleagues to have a better understanding of these recent policy changes and how they will impact our students and the college," Mason said.
Mason said approximately 850 international students have already applied for the 2024-2025 school year.
"Students who are coming from abroad spend a good deal of time making their plans. So, often, students are planning to come to Canada a year and a half in advance. So, there would be a great number of students who would have already applied to Lambton for the coming academic year," she added.
The minister said students applying to masters and PhD programs will be exempt from the cap.
He also said he hopes the cap will give the federal and provincial government time to curb a system that he said is taking advantage of high international student tuition while providing, in some cases, a poor education.
Provinces have been putting pressure on the federal government to make changes, as they continue to struggle with an increasing number of non-permanent residents entering Canada in the midst of a housing crisis.