McGuinty Moves to Exploit Foreigners at the Cost of Ontario's Future

Premier Dalton McGuinty will announce in his Throne Speech a plan to open up Ontario to more foriegn students, following an Australian Education Model.

Never mind that Australia produces next to no academics worth the paper on which their degrees were printed, while Canadian academics sit as part of disguinished faculties across the world. Never mind that Ontario has eight of the country's top ten research universities, if you still consider McGill an elite institution (I do to be generous), and three of the top one hundred in the world.

Since the push to nearly double available spaces at Universities in Ontario for the arrival of the dreaded double-cohort, there has been absolutely no shortage of spots for qualified applicants in Ontario's univerisities. Generous financial aid programs that currently exist mean only those with a pathological fear of accumulating debt (no more than $28 000 for a four year degree, because OSAP does NOT allow you to accumulate more than $7 000 a year) are unable to go to university.

So, let's review: we have a system in place where we swing above our weight in terms of quality, and we have a generous subsidization and financial aid system in place and more than enough spots for qualified applicants.

Clearly, our undergraduate education system is broken, and we need to learn from Australia, which has only one university in the top 100, because they properly exploit wealthy foriegners. In fact, educating international students is Australia's third largest industry.

The only price for it is the quality of education.

While the Premier plans to add even more spots to undergradute programs, faculties across the province are planning hiring freezes for tenured faculty. Some programs are giving the "Honours" designation meaning again, by streaming talented students into special classes while giving the rest a lower-quality, bulk-barn style education taught by sessionals and graduate students.

It's like Mr. McGuinty doesn't even talk to anyone before he comes up with a plan.

The Ontario Liberals will argue that more foriegn students will help subsidize tuition of local students. Pure nonsense. The market for foriegn students is competitive, and so tuitions set cannot be arbitary. A foriegn student will not pay the same to attend York University as he would to pay to attend Yale. A foriegn student will not pay a 50% premium to go to a public Ontario University, if a private institution will offer tuition at cost. This competitiveness will ultimately drive tuitions down to near-cost, meaning the subsidy for local students will be small as undergraduate programs grow more and more bloated.

Foriegn students have a place at universities. They help build a school's reputation abroad, and as graduate students they help bring new ideas and concepts over from other countries. However, the notion that we can exploit them to make a quick buck is not only incorrect, it will be counterproductive and lessen the quality of undergraduate education in Ontario.