Public College–Private Partnerships: Lessons Learned for Ontario’s Postsecondary Education System was written by Julia Colyar, Alexandra MacFarlane and Sarah Brumwell, Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.
Programming at Public College–Private Partnerships was misaligned with Ontario’s labour market needs
In Ontario, much of the recent growth in international students was driven by enrolments at public colleges through Public College–Private Partnerships (PCPPs), primarily located in the Greater Toronto Area. PCPPs have existed in Ontario since 2005, but enrolments increased dramatically starting in 2019. In 2023–24, 14 public colleges had partnerships through 23 PCPPs. Twenty percent of all international enrolment at Ontario public colleges was concentrated in PCPP sites. A new Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) review of PCPPs and their role in supporting labour market needs suggests an important mismatch between programming offered through PCPPs and Ontario online job postings in 2021–2023. PCPP graduates with diploma or graduate certificates may have entered Ontario’s labour market with credentials not required for many of the available jobs.
In January 2024, the Federal Government announced several changes to Canada’s international education framework that reduced the number of available study permits by nearly 50% and made students studying at PCPPs ineligible for Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWPs). Without access to PGWPs for their graduates, PCPPs in their current form will likely dissolve. Despite this, questions related to the intersections of international education, the labour market and immigration pathways are relevant for government, postsecondary institutions and international students.
HEQCO assembled a list of PCPP program offerings in late 2023 by scraping the websites of colleges with PCPPs. For labour market analysis, the 2021 Canadian Census was accessed for population counts and the Labour Market Information Council (LMIC) Canadian Job Trends Dashboard for online job postings from January 2021 to December 2023 inclusive. The analysis includes a focus on the job postings in the GTA, the region in which PCPPs are located.
Most of Ontario’s demand for labour, as approximated by online job postings, are concentrated in highly specialized fields like nursing — not typically offered by the PCPPs — or in positions that require low or no postsecondary education, which is consistent with findings from Statistics Canada. PCPP students who earn graduate certificates, which require completion of a postsecondary credential as an entry prerequisite, enter a highly competitive labour market as only 18% of jobs posted on the LMIC Dashboard in Toronto required an undergraduate or graduate degree. Postsecondary graduates, both domestic and international, are navigating a job market that is essentially bottom heavy, with employers offering wages below what applicants would expect to receive for the work involved and their skill level.
Alignment between postsecondary programming and the labour market has important consequences for international students, as well as employers and government. International students pay a high price for their Ontario credentials and likely graduate with high expectations. Mismatches between their qualifications and opportunities can be demoralizing both in the immediate and the longer term. Alignment between international graduates’ skills and preparation and labour market demands is also important as government works to fill anticipated gaps in highly skilled segments of Ontario’s labour market.
Misalignment between PCPP programming and available jobs in Ontario echoes broader misalignment between immigration pathways and labour market needs. International students are encouraged to pursue higher levels of education in the immigration process despite the labour market not demanding these credentials. The federal and provincial governments should work together to ensure better coordination between internationalization initiatives, immigration policies and labour market pressures. Alignments between postsecondary international student programming and the labour market could be improved with better use of outcomes data, including employment, earnings, mobility and immigration outcomes. Government can also work with postsecondary institutions to take a more strategic approach to program and enrolment planning.