St Clair College is taking on more students from abroad to offset the costs of "equal work for equal pay" legislation.
The amendment means part-time, casual and seasonal workers at the college can demand the same wage that their full-time colleagues receive to perform the same work — that change will cost the school an estimated $12-million each year.
Vice President of Academics Waseem Habash tells CTV News many international students are studying in fields like computer networking — a vocation he says is not popular with Canadian students.
"We don't have enough students that want to take the engineering technology programs or skills trades so international students will help the economy when they fill those gaps for employers," he says. "The young Indian population feel like Canada is their destination and they want to come here."
Habash tells CTV News only some of the college's programs have expanded to accept more international students
Programs like respiratory therapy, veterinarian technician and cardio vascular technology won't be expanding.
"The growth has been in programs that have not been filled by domestic enrollment in the past," he says.
Lori Masonville is a second-year culinary student and part-time employee at St. Clair College - she tells CTV News it makes for a more culturally diverse campus.
"They are very courageous students for coming here and learning the language," she says. "It's also a chance for me to learn and grow, it's a positive thing, it's a good thing."
More than 12,600 students will enroll at St. Clair this fall and about 4,200 will be from outside Canada — graduates that Habash says will fill gaps in the Canadian economy.
— with files from Stefanie Masotti/CTV Windsor