International students in Canadian universities and colleges encountered severe challenges since the coronavirus pandemic gained a foothold in the first half of 2020, according to a survey.
An unpublished research project’s survey results as quoted by The Conversation, in which students from 84 countries participated, found international students suffering from psychological, academic and financial challenges.
Carleton University’s assistant professor of public policy Anil Varughese asked international students about how they were faring in the pandemic, using a survey and in-depth interviews along with public policy professor Saul Schwartz in fall 2020.
Of the 981 students who took the survey, 46 per cent of respondents were Indians and the rest were from China, the Philippines, the U.S., Colombia, Nigeria and Iran.
“Fifty per cent of international students…surveyed reported high scores on their susceptibility to clinical depression and general anxiety disorder,” Varughese said.
Palak Soi told Humber News that the quarantine period after arriving in Canada heightened her anxiety and worsened her depression.
“I felt so lonely during quarantining at home that I started to hallucinate and later had suicidal thoughts along with sleep paralysis,” she said.
Soi said she attended on-campus classes for only 40 days during her two-year course because of the pandemic. She looked for ways to cope with her isolation.
“I became addicted to cannabis to such an extent that I couldn’t feel normal without it,” she said. “I later sought counselling and requested therapy because I was diagnosed with moderate anxiety and depression.
“Coronavirus changed me as a person and affected me psychologically,” Soi said.
Because of the closures and lockdowns, many students including 23-year-old Conestoga College student Himanshu Dabas either had their work hours reduced or they lost their part-time jobs.
“I lost my part-time job at a warehouse I was working. I had to borrow money to manage my expenses,” Himanshu said.
Varughese said that the newer cohort of international students are financially more insecure than other students because they take high loans that they are responsible for paying back.
The survey found academic stress to be a major issue faced by students. It found that online courses sabotaged students’ overall academic exposure.
Interviews of those surveyed showed a lack of interaction between classmates and teachers because of the COVID-19 restrictions. Poor internet connectivity and computer problems were also obstacles to online learning.
Northern College student Karanbir Singh, 20, said he struggled for days due to his typing speed. He had difficulties switching from offline to online learning as it was a shift from pen-and-paper to typing, which affected his scores.
He said the concepts being taught weren’t clear through virtual learning and the lockdown made it worse.
“I was isolated between the four walls of my room and had no one to talk to for months,” Karanbir said. “Due to online learning in a foreign country, I became an introvert from an extrovert person.”
The survey showed international students are also very concerned about policy gaps between them and domestic students. The government provides aid to domestic students through programs like the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) but there are limited options for international students.
George Brown student Prableen Kaur, 24, said international students pay two-to-three times the tuition fee than domestic students.
“Still there is no one to understand our specific needs or to offer targeted support,” Prableen said.
The Auditor General of Ontario Bonnie Lysyk said in an annual report that the province’s 24 public colleges rely on international student tuition for their financial health. She said that at some smaller schools, over 90 per cent of their tuition fees are coming from foreign students.
Schwartz said the system should be set up to be centred around students’ needs, not the needs of the colleges and universities.
“The government should subsidize all education (international and domestic) more heavily, reducing tuition fees for everyone…the system shouldn’t exist only to provide revenues to the schools but should be student-centric,” Schwartz said.
Varughese said international students are being exploited by potential employers, landlords and educational agents because students don’t know about their rights.
He said international students are allowed to work only 20 hours off-campus and that also has major potential for exploitation.
“The government [should] look at some of these potential areas…[and] regulate those industries by a new set of laws or set the regulations right…The solution is to look at [the problem] from a student-centric viewpoint,” Varughese said.