 "Family members take photographs at the entrance of the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada April 14, 2025. REUTERS")
A growing number of students in the US are flocking to Canada to pursue higher education, as President Donald Trump’s harsh policies against American schools threaten their courses. The Republican leader recently slashed funding for Harvard University after the institution rejected the government’s demands to tackle antisemitism on campus.
Since March 1, the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Vancouver campus reported a 27 per cent growth in applications from US citizens for programs starting in the 2025 academic year, compared with all of 2024.
The influx of applications was so high that UBC Vancouver reopened admissions for US students looking to apply to its pool of courses this week, with plans to fast-track applications from US students hoping to begin studies in September.
University of Toronto, Canada’s largest university by number of students, also reported more US applications by its January deadline for 2025 programs, while a University of Waterloo spokesperson reported an increase in US visitors to campus and more web traffic originating from the United States since September.
Why do US students want to study in Canada?
UBC Vancouver’s provost and vice-president of academics, Gage Averill, blamed the Trump administration’s decision to abruptly revoke visas of foreign students and increased scrutiny of their social media activity.
“That, as a result, and especially as a result of the very recent crackdown on visas in the United States for international students, and now the development of a center that’s reading foreign students’ social media accounts,” Averill said.
Canada’s immigration ministry said it expects learning institutions to only accept the number of students they can support, including providing housing options. Provinces and territories are responsible for distributing spaces under the cap, the ministry said.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts‘Meaningful increase’
The University of Toronto said it was seeing a “meaningful increase” in applications from those living or studying in the US over previous years. University of Waterloo, which is known for its technical graduate programs and churns out top-notch engineering talent, said some faculties including engineering have seen increased interest and applications from students in the US.
“We have seen an increase in US visitors to the UW visitors centre on campus, and web traffic that originates in the US has increased by 15% since September 2024,” a University of Waterloo spokesperson said.
With inputs from Reuters