Foreign students unhappy over failing grade say they feel exploited
Failing marks for dozens of international students have led to a days-long sit-in at an Ontario university, with some frustrated students saying they’ve been left feeling as though the school is trying to milk them for more money.
In response to the controversy, Algoma University has re-evaluated the grades in one online course offered by its Brampton campus and, finding them “abnormally low,” has given dozens more students a passing grade. It’s also moved to offer the students a free makeup exam.
The school says it deeply values academic integrity and fairness, and that for those students retaking the exam, it will be up to them to do the work and make the grade. It didn’t address the students’ suggestion that it was trying to extract more fees out of the affected students.
The incident is the latest to turn a spotlight on Canada’s international student program, which has become the subject of increasing scrutiny in recent years amid soaring enrolment by foreign students.
The students in this instance were enrolled with Algoma University’s Brampton campus in a one-year postgraduate certificate program in information technology. One of their courses in the fall semester was an online class in techniques of systems analysis.
Last week, the group learned that many of the 230 students in the class, the majority of them from India, had flunked the course and would have to pay $3,500 in tuition to retake it.
They said this would delay their graduation and subsequent application for a postgraduate work permit toward earning permanent residence in Canada.
“They want more and more money from the international students. We are already paying three, four times more than domestic students in tuition,” said Sandeep Kaur, 25, who has an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from India and was shocked to find herself failing the same course at Algoma a second time.
The incident is the latest to turn a spotlight on Canada’s international student program, which has become the subject of increasing scrutiny in recent years amid soaring enrolment by foreign students.
The students in this instance were enrolled with Algoma University’s Brampton campus in a one-year postgraduate certificate program in information technology. One of their courses in the fall semester was an online class in techniques of systems analysis.
Last week, the group learned that many of the 230 students in the class, the majority of them from India, had flunked the course and would have to pay $3,500 in tuition to retake it.
They said this would delay their graduation and subsequent application for a postgraduate work permit toward earning permanent residence in Canada.
“They want more and more money from the international students. We are already paying three, four times more than domestic students in tuition,” said Sandeep Kaur, 25, who has an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from India and was shocked to find herself failing the same course at Algoma a second time.
The students and their supporters started camping outside the university campus at Queen and Main streets Friday, demanding the administration review their marks and reassign a different professor to the class if the students must repeat the course. They asked that the fee for students retaking the course be waived.
“We need fair grading. We need to be able to check our exams. That process should be fair and transparent,” said Deep Sharma, 23, who has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from India. “We don’t want to retake the course with this professor again.”
In response to the protesting students, Michael Twiss, the dean of the university’s faculty of science, said he was aware of the concerns raised over what some perceived to be “abnormal grading.”
“I conducted an investigation and objectively determined that the final grades for this particular Computer Science class are abnormally low,” he wrote in one email to a failing student. “On learning the result of my review, your course instructor has applied a normalized grading system and will resubmit the final grades for this course section.”
The recipient of the email, the letter said, was assured that he would pass the course and the passing grade will be reflected on his academic record shortly.
In a statement to the Star, Algoma officials said they launched an “urgent” review of the course after receiving the students’ complaints, which showed that this class had grades below statistical norms. Following university policies and procedures, the course instructor applied a “standard bell curve.” That resulted in 61 additional students exceeding a 50 per cent passing grade.
The school said currently only 32 students in that class have a failing grade, and university administrators have since met protesting students to hear their concerns. A makeup exam has been offered to those students, along with study materials and free tutoring sessions to support their preparation. The exam will be composed and graded by a different faculty member and there will be no fee to take the exam.
“As a public university, Algoma University deeply values academic integrity. While we provide all students a range of resources to support their success, it is up to them to do the work and pass their exam,” the university said in a statement, adding that the course at issue was a difficult one.
“Algoma University very much wants the small group of protesters — some of whom are Algoma University students and some of whom are not — to come inside where they are safe and warm. We can extend an invitation; not a promise of better grades.”
While officials were unable to provide the breakdown of the class or those who failed between international and domestic students, both groups overall pass their Algoma University lecture courses as a whole at a nearly identical high rate, above 90 per cent.
On Tuesday, international students enrolled in another Algoma course also joined the protest after they said the majority of the 132 students in a management class flunked the course.
Simran Kaur said students had complained about the delayed start of the management course, the lack of course materials and guidance from the professor during the semester; they primarily relied on self-study of the textbook for their assignments and quizzes.
“They’ve never given us any help. And we did everything on our own and we’re failing this course,” said the 24-year-old, who has a bachelor of business administration degree in India and started Algoma’s two-year postgraduate certificate program in human resources and business management in May. “That is not acceptable.”
In response to the complaint by the business management students, Algoma said the grading of that course has yet to be finalized. While delay in grade reporting is rare, it happens in extenuating circumstances.
A spokesperson for Algoma said students who disagree with their grade have access to a formal Senate-approved grade appeal process while university policy allows for faculty to decide a makeup exam is appropriate.
The Star contacted both the professors teaching the IT and management courses for comments about the students’ complaints, but did not receive a response.
According to Algoma University’s website, the Sault Ste. Marie-based school has campuses in Timmins and Brampton, the latter now with a student body of more than 3,500 full-time equivalent. Across the three sites, international students account for half of the student population.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada data shows 5,874 students admitted by Algoma were granted study permits in 2022, with another 2,888 issued in the first four months of 2023.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller has introduced a number of changes to rein in the international student program amid criticisms of fraud and abuse of the system — one that is being exploited by both schools as a revenue source and those looking to work and earn permanent residence here.
Among the new measures is a “recognized institution” regime to start in September to fast-track study permit applications for colleges and universities with infrastructure in place to support international students.
In anticipation of the likely decline in international student enrolment, advocates say they fear schools will compensate for the possible revenue loss by tightening up the grading criteria to fill seats in the classroom by having students retake courses and keep the revenue flow.
Jaspreet Singh of the International Sikh Students Association said his organization is aware of complaints from members in other colleges and universities about being failed for classes at a large scale. While the recognized institution regime could help, he said provinces, which have jurisdiction over education, need to do more in ensuring funding in post-secondary education as well as academic standards.
“The federal government’s only job is issuing visas,” said Singh. “There’s a lot of work that has to be done by the provincial governments to ensure the proper checks of the colleges and universities to make sure they are accountable to the students for their actions.”
During the pandemic amid travel restrictions and campus lockdowns, the immigration department introduced a temporary policy to allow international students to attend classes online but still qualify for the coveted postgraduate work permit if online classes taken from outside Canada make up less than 50 per cent of the study program. This will end in September.
The relaxed distance-learning rule has allowed Canadian colleges and universities to continue to grow their international student enrolments despite limited physical structure to accommodate them. The number of study permit holders in Canada surged from 527,000 in 2020 to almost 900,000 in 2023.
Abhi Chauhan of the Naujawan Support Network, a Brampton-based advocacy group for international students and migrant workers, said students would rather attend classes in person than online or through pre-recorded lectures, so they can interact with their classmates and instructors. For the Algoma IT course, students did not have an offline option.
“If they don’t have the capacity for these many students, why are they bringing them here?” asked Chauhan, whose organization has helped support the Algoma students in their campaign.
Chauhan said the sit-in protest at Algoma is not about pressuring the university to give students an easy pass but a timely and fair reassessment of their exams to verify the results, something that the students deserved.
This article was reported by The Star
