Research tackles problem of ‘mature’ foreign students
Research tackles problem of ‘mature’ foreign students
By Irish Mae Silvestre
The Philippine Reporter
With Canada poised to welcome more international students in the coming years, the rising number of mature students has caught the attention of the Migrants Resource Center of Canada (MRCC), an organization that offers migrants support through training, referrals or access to services. Together with York University, the organization is conducting research that into the unique experiences of international students.
The Philippine Reporter spoke with MRCC Managing Director Jesson Reyes to discuss why international students choose certification courses as a pathway to future employment and Canadian residency.
What kickstarted the research?
In partnership with York University we started a research project where we interview students enrolled in public and private colleges, particularly Filipino nationals. The project aims to understand the situation of international students coming into Canada from the Philippines through different processes, whether they’re applying on their own or applying through a recruitment agency.
Canada is opening up the international students stream at a large rate and opening its doors to international students. Universities, colleges and private colleges are taking advantage of this because the tuition fee for international students is three times the domestic fee.
What are some interesting facts that you’ve learned so far?
We’re seeing that the same recruitment agencies who bring in temporary foreign workers are also tapping into the stream of international students. They’re looking into mature students, students who are in their 30’s to early 40’s. One of the students we interviewed who’s from another Southeast Asian country, said that he saw applying as an international student as the “easiest” way to become a permanent resident. Obviously, it’s not easy but that’s how it’s being sold by recruitment agencies.
What challenges do these mature international students face?
From the onset, they’re engaged in predatory recruitment agencies who operate in the Philippines and here in Canada. It’s a problem because, for example, if I’m a student in the Philippines and I want to go to Canada, a recruitment agency can charge me in the average of $5000 to $8000 – and that’s just for the agency to fix my papers.
Why do students choose to use recruitment agencies?
The same reason caregivers and migrant workers are trusting of recruitment agencies: they advertise themselves as kind of a one-stop shop. Not only are they going to process your papers, application and biometrics but they’ll also help you “settle.” Sometimes they’ll provide you with housing. If you don’t know anybody here, the agency will have a network of landlords and sublet information. A lot of it is also word of mouth. Once a recruitment agency provides support to one group of workers, for example, then this group of workers will pass on this information to their other colleagues and these other colleagues will then seek out these agencies.
How do they fund their education and expenses?
Like migrant workers, students don’t have a lot of money at their disposal, so they often take on debt from the Philippines. They have to pay that once they’re working here part-time. Students we’ve interviewed work in service retail and some work in factories.
International students are allowed to work twenty hours a week on or off-campus. But they work more than twenty hours because they need to make more money. This is precarious because once you’re past the twenty hours, you’re being paid under the table. That means all the necessary labor laws that a worker is entitled to goes out the window. But this is a reality for international students because their tuition fees are so high, and they don’t have a lot of social support.
And this makes them vulnerable to exploitation.
For sure because employers will see them as disposable labor since students are looking for as many hours as they can get. They need to pay their tuition, debt and housing. They’re obviously susceptible to working longer hours without being paid overtime pay.
Once we’ve done the initial data-gathering, we want to reach out to students and actually provide support – whether it’s by way of workshops, drop-ins or whatever it is we can do – so that they know that there is support out there.
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