School not renewing faculty contracts, not allowing sabbaticals, offering voluntary retirement
The HR department at Concordia University is one of many at schools across Canada dealing with staffing issues as government policies take effect.
The Montreal university is laying off some workers as it deals with the financial impact of changes to Canada’s rules regarding international students coming to the country, according to the institution.
The university will not renew 63 limited-term faculty contracts, and most of those affected will lose their positions when contracts expire in June 2026. Additionally, all previously approved sabbaticals are being deferred by a year, and a voluntary retirement program has been introduced for full-time faculty, reported The Canadian Press (CP).
This comes as international student enrolment has plummeted by 23% this year, with applications down 40%, noted the university.
“This figure underscores the seriousness of the structural deficit, and the scale of intervention now required,” the university stated, according to the report.
Impact on staff, students
The impact on staff morale and institutional culture is significant. Stephen Yeager, a veteran English professor and union representative, told CP that four colleagues in his department alone will be out of work next year, some after more than a decade of service. “If it goes forward, it’ll be a huge blow to our students,” Yeager said. “On top of teaching, these are mentors. These are supervisors. These are participants in community events and grant-funded research.”
Some of the professors who will be cut expressed concern that courses may be cancelled or handed to less qualified instructors, potentially diminishing the quality of education.
“It was one of those moments in my life that I’m never going to forget, seeing my chair coming to my office with shame and apology, saying ‘You won’t have a job next year here,’” one assistant professor told CP. “I felt like a school kid getting expelled.”
The federal government’s cap on its intake of international students had already led to layoffs at some schools in Ontario even before 2024 ended, according to a previous report.
Wider impact on universities
Concordia’s president, Graham Carr, previously told CP that the university’s financial woes are not unique.
“It’s created havoc for universities in Quebec and Canada,” Carr said, pointing to both the international student caps and a significant tuition hike for out-of-province students imposed by the Quebec government.
Carr added that Concordia, like many universities, has had to pause hiring and make deep cuts to meet government-imposed deficit targets. “We are a university that was used to growing, and now we’re having to operate in a different manner,” he told CP.
The federal government plans to admit only 155,000 international students to the country next year, about half of the 305,900 international student cap the government had planned for 2026, before it revised targets downward yet again in its latest report on immigration levels, according to a CBC report.
“As Ontario responds to a battery of previous changes, these budget cuts present further disruption at a time when the sector has already cut $1.8 billion, suspended 600 programmes and eliminated 8,000 positions,” said Maureen Adamson, CEO of Colleges Ontario, in a statement.
Also, since the federal government announced the first changes to international student targets earlier this year, several B.C. schools have announced layoffs, paused hiring and cancelled programmes, according to a report from the Vancouver Sun.
In mid-2025, the federal government revised the eligibility requirements for international students under the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) to align with the 2025 Express Entry priorities. Effective June 25, 119 new fields of study in key sectors such as health care and social services, education, and trades were added.
