Not Your Cash Cow, Not Your Scapegoat: Student Migration and Canadian Universities

International students have long been seen as cash cows by Canadian universities, a revenue stream of high tuition fees for the same education received by lower-paying domestic students. While in the past their inclusion has been lauded as “recruiting global talent” to Canada, more recently these students have been blamed for social issues from housing shortages to spreading disease ― various reductive framings that instrumentalize student migrants for political purposes. Meanwhile, student migrants are often surprised to face isolation, poverty and racism, and disappointed by lacklustre university services meant to help them navigate life in Canada.

This book places the international student within the larger context of edugration, or student migration, to examine the everyday vulnerabilities arising from this immigration status. It gathers insights about racialization from over 120 nationwide interviews with student migrants from Asia, revealing how student migrants cope with prejudice, create networks and manage their own integration. Collectively written by postsecondary educators, researchers and students, including student migrants themselves, this book features evidence-based, critical and antiracist recommendations toward holistically supporting student migrants from Asia to Canada.

The Racialization of Asian International Students (RAIS) Collective is a team of racialized and non-racialized postsecondary educators, researchers and students, including student migrants from Asia, all located in Canada. Our research collaboration stems from the observation that international students, particularly those from Asia, have differing experiences in the Canadian postsecondary education sphere, compared to students from other places. Launched in 2018, our project was initially to document and compare the treatment of international students from Asia at five Canadian universities. Deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, this national team turned to unpacking the vulnerabilities of student migrants and their resiliency amid the simultaneous rise of anti-Asian racism, instrumentalization of international students by Canadian institutions, and growing xenophobia in public discourse regarding international students and their integration into Canadian society. Dedicated to understanding the connections between the experiences of student migrants and other Canadian realities, including settler colonialism, racism, sexism, classism and ableism, the RAIS Collective and its individual members are committed to advocating for better support for this student migrants, within universities, in the media and through activism.

The RAIS Collective is composed of Firrisaa Abdulkarim, Elizabeth Buckner, Elic Chan, Soma Chatterjee, Ann H. Kim, Eun Gi Kim, Yifan Liu, Sophie Xiaoyi Liu, Yazhi Luo, Marie-Odile Magnan, Jean Michel Montsion, Ajay Parasram, Shirin Shahrokni, Roberta Soares
and Lori Wilkinson.

Firrisaa Jamal Abdulkarim is a PhD candidate in sociology with a strong interdisciplinary foundation, holding master's degrees in both economics and sociology, and a BSc in psychology with a minor in economics from York University. His research focuses on the intersection of race, inequality, and education, with particular attention to structural barriers in educational systems and pathways into STEM. As a research assistant, he has contributed to several large-scale projects involving administrative and longitudinal data, policy analysis, and mixed-methods approaches. He brings a deep commitment to equity-driven research shaped by both academic training and community-based experience. He has worked locally and internationally on initiatives focused on youth development, educational access, and systemic change.

Firrisaa Jamal is a member of The Racialization of Asian International Students Collective.

Dr. Elizabeth Buckner is an associate professor of higher education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, where she also holds the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Higher Education for Global Sustainable Development. Her research examines how global trends affect higher education, in particular trends such as private higher education, internationalization and sustainable development. Dr. Buckner is a major contributor to the research literature in the field of higher education, comparative education and comparative higher education. She has published in many of the top journals in sociology of education (Sociology of Education, British Journal of Sociology of Education); comparative education (Comparative Education Review, Comparative Education, International Journal of Educational Development); and comparative higher education (Higher Education, Minerva).

Elizabeth is a member of The Racialization of Asian International Students Collective.

Dr. Elic Chan is a lecturer and researcher in sociology at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on the social and economic integration of Asian Canadians and their experiences across Canadian cities. His work has been published in International Migration Review, Journal of International Migration and Integration, City & Community, and Comparative and International Education. Beyond his research, Dr. Chan has taught more than 60 university-level courses at both private and public postsecondary institutions, with a focus on programs designed for international students.

Elic is a member of The Racialization of Asian International Students Collective.

Soma Chatterjee is an associate professor in the School of Social Work, York University, where she holds an associate membership in the graduate program of interdisciplinary studies. She is a multidisciplinary scholar of migration/mobility and anti-racist politics in their generative intersections with Indigenous sovereignty and state practices of Indigenous recognition and reconciliation. Her research stands at the disciplinary intersections of sociology, social work, Indigenous and Native studies, education (adult and higher education) and migration and diaspora studies. Her scholarly trajectory took shape in the context of her personal experience of migration and resettlement and subsequent community development and health promotion experience with immigrant and refugee populations in Toronto.

Soma is a member of The Racialization of Asian International Students Collective.