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Over the years, English-speaking universities have been the big winners in the battle between higher education institutions to recruit international students. But that is changing.

The proportion of foreign students enrolled in Quebec’s English-speaking universities grew steadily to reach a peak of 44.9% in fall 2020, declining to 37.9% in fall 2022. PresBased on data compiled by Office of Interuniversity Cooperation (BCI).

In total, as of fall 2022, there were 54,321 international students, or 20,598 at three English-speaking universities and 33,723 at 16 French-speaking institutions.

The reversal of this trend can first be explained by French-speaking universities making efforts to attract more foreign students by organizing international recruitment campaigns, crowned with success, with the participation of the Quebec government.

Last year, the number of foreign students at French-speaking universities increased by 14%, compared to 4% for English-speaking students.

These gains on the French-speaking side are reinforced by the fact that English-speaking institutions, which already have large numbers of foreign students, no longer seek to increase their numbers. This is especially true of McGill University, which is very welcoming in Quebec, but does not want to increase its proportion of foreign students to its current 29%.

in French-speaking universities

At the University of Montreal (UdeM), international students represent 16% of the student body. There are more than 7,000 out of a total of 46,000 students.

“More than half are from France,” notes Rector Daniel Jutras.

“Other important basins are the Maghreb and the countries of French-speaking Africa,” he adds. There are still problems. “Not Quebec problems, but federal immigration problems for delays in obtaining authorizations, which reduces our ability to convert admission offers into registrations,” he declares, noting that African students have more difficulty obtaining study permits than those in other regions of the world, especially in Quebec.

At HEC Montreal, which is affiliated with UdeM, the proportion of international students is 16%. At Polytechnique Montréal, which is part of UdeM, this rises to 28%. UdeM, HEC and Polytechnic have 18% foreign students.

The University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), for its part, has 13% of its students from elsewhere. Of the 35,000, nearly 5,000 come from outside Canada.

“This number has been growing over the years,” spokeswoman Carolyn Tessier says via email. “We observe an increase of more than 15% in the number of international students at UQAM between 2019 and 2022. After more than 10 years, this growth is still staggering: there were 2,457 international students in 2010, and they will almost double in 2022.”

Across the Université du Québec (UQ) network, they are particularly numerous at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC) and École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS), where a third of students (31%) come from abroad.

The highest percentage is at the National Institute for Research in Science (INRS), a small university at UQ dedicated to research and training of graduate students with 63% international students.

At Laval University, foreigners represent 12%.

The ratio is 8% at the University of Sherbrooke, which has 2,000 international students out of 25,000 students.

in English-speaking universities

Among the English-speaking institutions, McGill welcomes the largest number of international students: almost 11,000 out of 36,560 students, or 29% of its clientele. The three main countries are China, USA and France. Almost half of McGill students live in Quebec and 23% come from other provinces.

McGill wants to maintain the percentage of international students at 25% to 30%, said Mr. Labeau says. “We don’t want to go beyond that because we’re a Quebec university and we want to keep this trait,” he explains. Our budget is prepared on that basis. »

Concordia also has a large number of foreign students: 9,300 out of 39,000 students, or 24% of the student body. India, Iran, France, China and USA are the most represented countries. “In general, there is a high proportion of international students at the graduate level,” spokeswoman Vannina Maestracchi says via email.

At Bishop’s, a small university of 3,000 students located in Estrie, international students represent 22% of the student body.

Of Quebec’s three English-speaking universities, the third country for international students is… France.