From the 2003/2004 to 2023/2024 academic years, the number of full-time international students in public postsecondary institutions in Canada increased eightfold. It then fell by almost one-third, according to new preliminary estimates now available for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 academic years.
These results are from the study entitled "Feasibility study: Estimating the international student population in Canada using administrative data," which produced preliminary estimates of the number of full-time international students in public postsecondary institutions and selected characteristics of these students for the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 academic years. Data for these years are not yet available in Statistics Canada's Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS).
According to these new estimates, the number of full-time international students in public postsecondary institutions decreased 4% in 2024/2025 and 26% in 2025/2026, bringing their numbers back to levels similar to those recorded in 2021/2022, the second academic year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
