Why Western wants to create a new and controversial entry pathway for international students

To the brain trust at Western University, it's a partnership with the potential to boost international student enrollment, a badly needed revenue source at a time of rising costs and stagnant government support.

However, to its opponents, it's an ill-advised move down a slippery slope toward privatization with the potential to undermine the academic integrity of one of Canada's largest universities. 

At issue is a proposed partnership between Western and Navitas, an Australian company, to create a new privately-run international college under the Western banner that will offer a separate first-year entry pathway for some international students. 

The partnership has already received initial approval by Western's Senate, though it came in a tight 48-39 vote. It will next go to the Board of Governors for final approval. 

When asked to be interviewed for this story, Western University officials said Provost Florentine Strzelczyk won't be available until after next week. Emails to Navitas for comment were not returned.

However, some broad-stroke details of the deal and arguments in its favour are spelled out in a document Strzelczyk submitted to the Senate. 

The proposed new entity, called Western International College (WIC), would recruit international first-year undergraduate students who "would not typically qualify for direct admission to Western, most often because they are missing prerequisites not available in their home country." The college would also have a stream for international master's degree students.

The school would operate as a separate college at a location that's not yet been determined, though the former Brescia University-College campus is one possible option. The university would have full oversight over academic staff appointments and academic work at WIC, and hiring at the international college will comply with Western's existing labour agreements. 

WIC students would pay the same tuition as other international students and would only go on to the second year of regular university study if they meet "all specified requirements." 

Student tuition would be paid to WIC, with a portion going to Western as a royalty. The proposed agreement says Navitas would cover all costs for WIC, including staff and infrastructure. Revenue projections through the new enrollment portal are estimated at $125,457,500 by 2033-34.

'Privatization model' critics contend

The proposed deal raises a number of red flags for Johanna Weststar, president of Western's faculty association. 

"It's concerning because it is a model of privatization," she said in an interview on CBC's London Morning. "Navitas runs a lean company because they want to maximize profits, so that complicates things when you bring that into a public sector system. It syphons money out of that system to private shareholders." 

Weststar is also concerned the partnership could undermine academic integrity. She believes WIC instructors will feel extra pressure to move students on to their second year, regardless of their academic performance. 

"It will put a lot of pressure on the faculty members who teach those courses to progress those students," she said. "When instructors' performance is largely based on student satisfaction, that's a lot of pressure." 

If the deal is approved, Western will join other Canadian universities that have partnered with Navitas including Toronto Metropolitan University, Wilfrid Laurier, the University of Manitoba (UM) and Simon Fraser University (SFU). 

In a statement to CBC News, Western said between 2021-22 and 2023-24, SFU's international college had an average enrollment of approximately 960 students and UM's had an average enrollment of 1,100. Western's projections calls for 2,345 undergraduate students to be enrolled by the 2033-34 academic year.

Western had considered a partnership with Navitas in 2020 but passed. In its Senate submission this time, the university said this deal is different because it gives Western more oversight over WIC operations.

International students eyed to fill funding gaps

According to their Senate submission, Western has fallen behind other large Canadian universities in recent years when it comes to international recruitment and now needs to make up for lost time. The number of international students at Western has declined by 780 since the 2021 school year, which amounts to a $40 million revenue drop. 

In its Senate submission, Western said its efforts to step up in-house international student recruitment — including a $5.5 million boost in recruitment spending — have "proven to be insufficient to close the gap."

Western has a stated goal of 20 per cent international enrollment, but is currently sitting at just 7.5 per cent, less than half the average of other large Canadian universities.

Western's Senate submission says a deal with Navitas will tap into an existing pipeline for international student recruitment with reduced risk and upfront costs to the university. 

What isn't spelled out is how this will work when the federal government has capped international student permits. 

The new college might help Western tap into additional provincial attestation letters. The letters, often referred to as PALs, are a requirement for international students applying for a study permit. Each province and school gets an allocation from the federal government. 

Western's submission to the Senate says international colleges in Ontario that are partnered with universities "received increased allocations to support the enrollment growth."

"Like other Ontario universities that partner with Navitas, Western would identify its projected need for PALs to the provincial government, including the incremental requirements for the proposed partnership."

Western also said that "in a potential partnership, Western would continue to work within the PAL system." 

Maïca Murphy is a research manager with Higher Education Strategy Associates, a consultant group focused on post-secondary education.

She said that since about 2009, tuition fees paid by international students have essentially covered all the increases to university budgets at a time when domestic enrollment has risen and government contributions flat-lined. 

"They have essentially been subsidizing a lot of the university system," she said. 

Murphy said partnerships like the Navitas deal are attractive to cash-strapped universities because they offer expertise in international student recruitment with low upfront costs. 

"It's a low-risk alternative revenue stream for institutions," she said. 

London West MPP and NDP post-secondary education critic Peggy Sattler has urged Western not to partner with Navitas, saying that "privatization has no place in Ontario's post-secondary system."

However, she said the main culprit is underfunding by the province of post-secondary education, a situation she said has created incentives for universities to seek out private partnerships that raise revenue.

"What Navitas does is privatize a first-year university program in the interest of the shareholders of the for-profit corporation," she said. "This is not what we should be doing with post-secondary education."