International student program operating without safeguards, oversight, says P.E.I.'s auditor general

A program that allows international students from kindergarten to Grade 12 to attend public school on P.E.I. — at a cost to their families of more than $10,000 in tuition payments per year — lacked basic safeguards to ensure their safety while living in the province, according to a report from the province's auditor general.

In his report, tabled in the legislature Tuesday, Auditor General Darren Noonan described a program attracting growing numbers of international students — 137 took part in the 2019-20 school year.

Those students are either from families in the process of applying for Canadian citizenship, or else attending school in the province without having applied for permanent residency.

Charged $5,300 per semester, those students and their families have been contributing about $1.5 million to the province annually, counted as revenue through the Department of Education.

But a decade after the Prince Edward Island international student program was first launched, it still had no documented policies or a long-term strategic plan.

The health and well-being of our students has to remain [of] the most importance.— Minister of Education Natalie Jameson

Among the policies lacking — the auditor general said the province has no screening process for the private homestay providers, with which more than half of the international students stayed in 2019-20.

At a minimum, the report said an agreement between the province and a homestay provider would outline requirements for criminal record and vulnerable sector checks for host families, requirements for basic needs for the students, and allow for regular home visits to monitor student well-being.

But the province has no agreements with homestay providers.

"Agreements would reduce the business and legal risk to the province, and can help to protect the well-being of students," the report said.

In its response, the province said the program will issue a request for proposals to seek a preferred homestay provider. While that provider would not have exclusive rights to house students in the program, the province said the agreement will include a requirement to monitor the well-being of students.

"The health and well-being of our students has to remain [of] the most importance," said Minister of Education and Lifelong Learning Natalie Jameson, in response to the report.

"I can't speak to what's been done previously, but I can ensure you as we move forward, there are significant opportunities for improvements."

Lack of due diligence risked program's reputation, says AG

The report also said the province had no documented agreements with education agents, who were responsible for placing two-thirds of the students who came, and who received a 15 per cent commission on tuition costs from the province as payment.

According to the report, the province also did not conduct due diligence reviews of education agents, which the AG said put the reputation of the international student program in jeopardy.

While the program's admission process requires students take a language proficiency test, the report said in 24 per cent of the files it examined students were permitted to opt out, robbing the province of an opportunity to assess "to what extent a student may require language supports while attending Island schools."

The report also said the Department of Education did not keep minutes of regular meetings involving senior education officials, provided little information to the public regarding the program's functioning, and overall lacks "the processes to effectively manage the P.E.I. international student program."

In its response, government laid out a plan to address all the auditor general's concerns by sometime in 2022, with several of the issues to be addressed by the start of the 2021-22 school year.

AG lacked resources

This was the first annual report tabled since Noonan was appointed P.E.I.'s auditor general.

He said two investigations had to be deferred to allow his office to fulfil a request from the premier to examine the province's COVID-19 spending.

Reports examining Crown lands and property tax arrears will be delivered sometime in the future, Noonan wrote, citing "the demands that the COVID-19 special examination placed on our staff resources."

More from CBC P.E.I.