The 20-year-old, who is studying criminology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) in Surrey, BC, hails from the tiny village of Bakipur in the northern Indian state of Haryana. He said his parents thought he would be safer halfway around the world because of him turbulent political environment in India. “There are not many opportunities for the youth [if] compare to Canada,” Singh said. “The political situation in Haryana right now is not very good. Singh is among hundreds of thousands of Indian students choosing to call BC and Canada home, leading to a sharp increase in applications for new student visas since 2015. While Singh cites personal safety as the main reason for coming here in December 2021, experts say there are specific conditions that have caused a sharp influx of students from India recently. Karan Singh, 20, is from the state of Haryana in India. They are among hundreds of thousands of Indian international students in Canada, part of a trend that has continued since 2015. (Sarbmeet Singh/CBC) India and South Asia have they were historically large contributors in Canadian immigration — more than five percent of British Columbians they speak Punjabi natively. However, the biggest driver of immigration recently has been post-secondary education and promise the canadian dream. In 2015, student permit applications from India were almost at the same level as those from China. Seven years later, applications from India made up almost half of all student leave applications between January and June, while those from China – the second largest contributor of international students – remained relatively flat. There were almost 509,000 university students in BC during the 2020/21 academic year, according to a ministry spokesperson. Of these students, 151,185 were international students. ONE Exhibition 2017 estimated that a quarter of all international students in Canada were in B.C
Youth unemployment and the rise of the middle class
Henry Yu, a history professor at the University of BC, said in an email that the sharp increase in applications from India can be attributed to a growing middle class in the country that can afford to send their children abroad. Research shows that the Indian middle class has increased significantly since economic reforms were implemented in the 1990s, with a consequent increase in spending power. Shinder Purewal, a political scientist at KPU, also says that the diverse fields of study offered in Canada are attractive to young people in India, especially given high youth unemployment rate. “Consider – India has the largest population under 25 or younger in the world,” he said. “Job opportunities for such a large number of people are rather limited in India.” Purewal also says India’s private and tech sectors — which are growing fast — don’t offer the job security or benefits that Canadian employers offer. For Sana Banu, who came to Canada in 2018 to study advertising at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont., promise of permanent residence and the ability to contribute to Canada’s diverse workforce has been a great asset. “Canada needs skilled immigrants and skilled workers to advance its economy,” he said. “I found that Canada has a very accepting culture.” Sana Banu, from Hyderabad, India, applied for permanent residence in Canada. (Submitted by Sana Banu)
Inequality in fee structure
International education is seen as a ability indexaccording to researchers, it leads to a parallel economy in India that seeks to send students abroad. Tashia Kootenayoo, its secretary-treasurer the P.S. Federation of Studentshe says many of these students come here in precarious circumstances. “In our data and research … almost half — 47 percent — of international students do not have strong financial resources,” he said. “Most students report being surprised by the cost of living here in British Columbia.” Kootenayoo says the federation found that international students made up about 20 percent of an institution’s total student population, but paid almost half total tuition revenue. “Their fees are used to cover the gaps [university] operating budgets,” he said. “This is an issue the provincial government needs to address.” According to Kootenayoo, students surveyed — many of whom are from India — reported an increase in food bank use in recent years. “The province is allowing institutions to take advantage of these students. This is a very unfair system and unfair,” he said. Kootenayoo and the federation are asking more public funding for BC institutions, as well as regulations that freeze and limit fees paid by international students.
