Graduate students and teaching fellows call out to restore international student awards.
In a call to action released on Jan. 6 by Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) 901, which includes graduate teaching assistants, teaching fellows and postdoctoral scholars, the Social Justice and Political Action committees of PSAC 901 called upon the University to reinstate the International Queen’s Graduate Award (IQGA) Student Tuition Award. The award, discontinued at the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year, provided international PhD students with a minimum of $4,000 as part of a base stipend.
In solidarity with international students and migrant workers, the statement outlined demands for improved and funding for international students who form “large number of graduate workers” at Queen’s.
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The call to action further demands the University to “adopt policies that , rather than exploit, international students.”
Suggested policies include increasing international student funding, eliminating ission and funding caps, extending Post-Graduate Work Permits (PWGP) ending in 2024-25 and providing five-year PWGPs for all international graduates, creating a fair, transparent pathway to permanent residency and fair working conditions. These demands were restated at PSAC 901’s “street party” on Jan. 13 outside Dupuis Hall.
Michelle Wong, a second-year PhD student in Cultural Studies, spoke to the importance of the IQGA—and the impacts of its removal—in an interview with The Journal.
“We don’t have the same opportunities as the domestic students to apply for Ontario Graduate Scholarships or undergraduate awards. The International Graduate Award helped us to our studies with our financial difficulties,” Wong said.
Elaborating on the social challenges faced by international students, Wong explained that “we [International Students] are supposed to stay here to contribute our background, but we don’t have the same system as the domestic students,” citing lack of family, friends and other social s in Canada on top of “limited funding.”
Wong explained the impact of the removal of the IQGA on both a personal and academic level, stating that it affects the research quality due to the constant worry of having to maintain a living in Kingston.
According to Wong, the recent release of the solidarity statement is significant due to the rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric in Canada, citing federal immigration restrictions made for international students. The federal government has set a cap of 360,000 study permits for international students in 2024, 35 per cent lower than the previous year. This number is set to decrease by 10 per cent by 2025.
READ MORE: International student enrolment sinks amid federal visa cap
“Our research contributions to the school and also to Canada aren’t recognized, so releasing the demand of restoring the International Graduate Award is important to us,” Wong said.
Wong highlighted the importance of itting international students to graduate programs, emphasizing that Queen’s should recognize them not only for the diversity they bring, but also for the expertise they contribute to this multicultural environment.
The University didn’t respond to The Journal’s request for comment regarding the restoration of the IQGA in time for publication.
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Don Martin
The IQGA was eliminated because Queen’s reduced tuition for international PhD students and made it equal to domestic tuition. If you want IQGA back, then international,PhD tuition must go up again.