Ontario’s public colleges are facing an unprecedented crisis as a tide of layoffs sweeps through campuses across the province, threatening to erase up to 10,000 jobs and reshape the future of higher education, according to a report by Gobal News. The looming cuts are being linked to a steep decline in international student enrollment, with Indian students at the centre of the storm.
Ontario’s college sector is grappling with a massive wave of layoffs, with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) warning that as many as 10,000 jobs could be lost across the province’s public colleges.
By June, 19 colleges had already reported cutting over 8,000 positions, although union officials believe the total will climb higher once all campuses disclose their figures. This turmoil follows the elimination of more than 600 academic programs in recent months.
A major factor fueling the cuts is a dramatic drop in the number of international students, particularly those from India, choosing to study in Canada.
Earlier this year, data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), cited by the Indian Express, revealed that study permits granted to Indian students fell by 31% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. Between January and March, just 30,640 Indian students received permits, down from 44,295 the previous year.
This drop comes as Canada imposed new caps on study permits to alleviate pressures on housing, healthcare, and other public services, limiting approvals to 437,000 in 2025, a 10% decrease from 2024.
According to a 2023 New York Times report, over 60% of international students in Ontario’s public colleges were from India. IRCC later confirmed that around 20,000 Indian students failed to arrive at their assigned colleges in March and April.
At a press briefing outside Toronto’s Centennial College, OPSEU President JP Hornick described the current crisis as staggering. “We’re seeing one of the largest mass layoffs in Ontario’s history,” Hornick said. “This is bigger than the Hudson’s Bay liquidation, which laid off 8,000 employees across Canada.”
Hornick warned that the layoffs could have lasting consequences for communities across Ontario. “We need strong colleges today for the accessible, low-barrier job training that they offer, especially in the face of trade wars that are undercutting and restructuring our economy,” Hornick said. “But instead, we are bleeding jobs.”
OPSEU alleged that the Ontario government has concealed the scale of the crisis and accused the province of chronic underfunding of post-secondary institutions.
However, Ontario officials rejected the union’s claims. Bianca Giacoboni, spokesperson for Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn, called the accusations “baseless and categorically false.”
“In the last 14 months alone, we have provided unprecedented amounts of new funding to our publicly-assisted post-secondary sector, with over $2 billion in new funding into our colleges and universities, on top of the $5 billion we put into the sector every year,” Giacoboni said in a statement to CBC.
The spokesperson also noted that the government plans to review the college funding model this summer.
Meanwhile, Centennial College disputed OPSEU’s assertion that it has axed more than 100 programs, clarifying that it suspended only 54 programs in 2025.