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As Trump turns U.S. inward, Quebec is missing chance to attract international students, study says
Applications from international students to Quebec universities dropped by 46 per cent for 2025-26 — a decline a new study links to recent restrictions it calls ill-timed, warning the province is missing a chance to attract talent deterred by U.S. policies under Donald Trump.
Students from other countries are essential to the 'vitality and viability' of Quebec's universities and play a major role in the province's economy, spending $4.2 billion and supporting 48,000 jobs annually, according to the study by the consulting firm Volume 10.
Since 2020, there have been 10 changes to international student admission policies in Quebec, according to the report, titled Knowledge Without Borders. The most recent involved major cuts to international admissions.
'The repeated changes to the system regulating international students, both in Quebec and Canada, have created confusion in student networks,' the study said. 'In a context where word of mouth plays a central role, this uncertainty is detrimental to Quebec's image at a time when global competition is becoming more intense.'
In addition, Quebec's English universities complain that the Legault government has alienated many potential international recruits by suggesting non-Quebec students who don't speak French are a major threat to the province's majority language.
There are 57,000 international students in Quebec universities, making up 17 per cent of the student population.
These students 'help keep many programs, weakened by demographic stagnation, afloat,' the study said.
'Their presence is especially decisive at the graduate — mainly doctoral — level, where international students represent almost half of all PhD students in Quebec. These students contribute to research in strategic fields such as artificial intelligence, engineering, and health sciences.'
In areas such as engineering and engineering technology, international students make up 72 per cent of those pursuing Master's and doctoral degrees. In mathematics, computer science, and information science, they account for more than half of graduate students.
'There just aren't enough Quebecers pursuing graduate studies in science,' Rémi Quirion, Quebec's chief scientist, told the study's authors. 'When I was a researcher, my lab would never have achieved such international success without the work of international students.'
Quirion, a former vice-dean in the faculty of medicine at McGill University, advises the Quebec government on science issues and promotes Quebec research in Canada and around the world.
International students cost a lot less to educate if you account for the fact that their pre-university studies were undertaken elsewhere.
The Quebec and Canadian governments spend $337,000 to take young people from birth through CEGEP, the study said. That expense is not required for students brought up elsewhere.
Upon graduation, about 31 per cent of international students remain in Quebec.
'Among those who choose to stay, 86.6 per cent quickly integrate into the job market,' the study found.
'Those who leave become scientific, economic, and cultural intermediaries for Quebec on the world stage. In both cases, international students contribute to the growth of Quebec's economy and the expansion of international markets.'
The study suggests Quebec can benefit from turmoil in the research and university sectors in the U.S. since Trump began his second term as president in January.
His administration has cut the budgets of major government agencies, restricted research funding in some scientific sectors and blocked specialists from some countries from entering the U.S.
'This hostile climate has made researchers and academics question their future in the U.S., creating a brain drain other countries are working hard to capitalize on,' the study said.
'For Quebec, this is a unique opportunity to show the world that it is a destination of choice for the brightest scientific minds.'
The study was sponsored by several major Quebec foundations.
