With political tensions escalating in the U.S., universities in B.C. are reopening admissions to accommodate a surge in interest from American students. Read More
‘We in Canada have to live with the tariffs, but the silver lining for us is that there has been much more cross-border interest,’ said Gage Averill, UBC’s provost and vice-president of academics.
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With political tensions escalating in the U.S., universities in B.C. are reopening admissions to accommodate a surge in interest from American students.
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The University of B.C. is reopening admissions to many of its graduate programs from April 14 to 18, following a 27 per cent increase in applications from U.S. students since last year. The university says it will fast-track admissions for American applicants looking to begin studies in September.
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“We in Canada have to live with the tariffs, but the silver lining for us is that there has been much more cross-border interest,” said Gage Averill, UBC’s provost and vice-president of academics. UBC has around 600 graduate students and 900 undergraduate students from the U.S., and those numbers are expected to rise.
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The shift comes after moves by the Trump administration to slash federal funding for American universities that support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives or that it accuses of failing to tackle antisemitism during last year’s campus protests related to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
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As a result, several U.S. universities have frozen admissions to graduate programs, with some rescinding offers made to students to cut costs given the uncertainty in government funding.
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“We looked at the situation of graduate students in the U.S., with the combination of not getting into graduate programs and visa cancellations, and we decided to host U.S. Applicant Week,” said Averill.
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Simon Fraser University is also responding to the surge in interest with plans to launch a similar reopening for American graduate students.
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“We are in the process of identifying programs that are interested in participating and will be launching a website for this purpose by April 15. We will be opening applications for these programs from April 16 to 25,” a university spokesperson said.
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This increase in applications from U.S. graduate students comes as, for the first time, they are eligible for funding through the Tri-Agency — Canada’s major federal granting agencies — for a variety of research-focused grants. The change took effect this year.
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U.S. students in B.C. say they are drawn by academic freedom, a lower cost of tuition and living in a politically stable, welcoming environment.
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“Before this year, I wanted to go back to the U.S. to work after finishing my degree,” Sean, an undergraduate student from Hawaii, said on Wednesday. The 22-year-old agreed to be identified by first name only, fearing potential complications re-entering the U.S.