The order applies to new training and teaching outside the country, including the establishment of branch campuses and curriculum licensing agreements. It does not impact the recruitment of international students to come to Ontario. 

Former colleges and universities minister Jill Dunlop sent the directive to colleges last week, prior to being reassigned in a cabinet shuffle by premier Doug Ford. The new minister is Nolan Quinn, with Dunlop taking on the role of education minister.

Alex Usher, who advises post-secondary institutions through his company Higher Education Strategy Associates, told The PIE News that he was shocked by the announcement. 

“Nine months ago, there was practically nothing Ontario colleges couldn’t do to raise money through internationalisation,” he said.

“Now, between the federal and provincial governments cracking down on problems both real and imagined, there is practically nothing Ontario colleges can do.” 

In the memo, Dunlop told the institutions that “it is essential that colleges focus on their core mandate of delivering post-secondary education and training to meet the needs of Ontarians and support the economic and social development of their local communities.” 

Higher education consultant Ken Steele described the new directive as “a bombshell out of the blue for Ontario colleges.”

“So far, nobody seems to know what motivated the moratorium,” Steele said.

“But it appears to slam shut the only door that most institutions saw open before them to offset some of the losses from the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada cap on recruiting international students to Canada.” 

Steele said that the Ford government still has not addressed the billions of dollars that a blue-ribbon panel said was needed to help colleges and universities get back on their financial feet, in a report released last November. 

“Now, this moratorium shovels on another layer of pain for institutional budgets,” Steele said.  

Previously, the Ford government encouraged colleges to be entrepreneurial by forming public-private partnerships to enrol international students and gave them freedom to open overseas campuses.

It’s like someone with an enormous vacuum has come to suck up all of the sector’s entrepreneurial energies

Alex Usher, HESA

Colleges Ontario, the association representing the 24 public colleges in the province, said it was worried about the future for colleges in the wake of the memorandum. 

“Revenue from entrepreneurial activities offsets rising costs for high-demand programs – programs that deliver the talent Ontario needs,” said president and CEO Marketa Evans.

“Colleges Ontario is increasingly concerned about the future ability of public colleges in Ontario to deliver for Ontarians.” 

The provincial government appears to be reversing course on colleges finding new revenue sources, said Usher. 

“It’s like someone with an enormous vacuum has come to suck up all of the sector’s entrepreneurial energies,” he argued.

“I’ve never seen a policy turn-around quite like it.”