The internationalization of higher education is sometimes couched in terms of academic-humanist objectives, including the advancement of cultural exchange and diversity. Higher education research frequently highlights the potential for students in receiving countries to benefit from intercultural exchanges with international students on their campuses. At the same time, governments, higher education institutions, and private sector interests promote internationalization in terms of advancing economic performance, innovation, and investment. In the top receiving nations such as Canada, interest in internationalization is also motivated by the necessity for institutions to generate revenues from beyond their domestic student markets. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on overall enrollments at Western higher education institutions, especially during the 2019-20 academic year. In countries where dependence on international student fee revenue is high, post-COVID pandemic discourse on international students has not revealed much evidence of prioritizing the more academic-humanist aims of internationalization. Instead, from Australia to America frenetic public hand-wringing over operating revenues lost due to COVID-related travel restrictions has dominated headlines. This has laid bare the profit-seeking objectives of Western higher education institutions which have spent years aggressively seeking to attract international students to their campuses. Amid talk of economic recovery in Western nations, the commercial value of international students continues to be a matter of priority from the institutional level on up to national governments. The foundational research questions addressed in this paper are as follows: a) how did Canadian universities respond to the financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on domestic students?; b) how did Canadian universities respond to the financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on international students?; and c) how did the responses to the financial needs of these two student communities differ? Based on a review of the extant research literature in this area, it is presumed that this study is the first systematic analysis of its kind to be focused on illuminating, interrogating, and delineating how Canadian universities represented and responded to the financial challenges of domestic and international student communities which resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. This work helps us to understand how financial assistance was provided to Canadian university students during the pandemic. It also reflects how the needs of international students were prioritized for financial assistance by universities and higher education policy-makers in Canada at the time. The findings will be informative for higher education researchers and institutions seeking to recruit international students and ensure that their needs are better met.

The data collection process for this study began with the selection of a suitable, representative sample of Canadian universities. For this purpose, the member universities of the Canadian University Survey Consortium were selected. Formed in 1994, this non-profit group of Canadian universities conducts an annual survey of undergraduate student activities, characteristics, experiences, perceptions, and satisfaction. The consortium is comprised of both public and private universities of varying sizes. The consortium's member institutions may change from year to year depending on the number of institutions opting to participate in the annual student survey. In 2021, this included 32 universities from across the country. The next stage of this research involved the identification and collection of public statements issued by these 32 universities during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, from the beginning of January 2020 to the end of December 2021. This compilation of documents consisted of 13,988 items posted on the universities' public websites and included a wide variety of advisories, announcements, media releases, and updates. Each of these public statements were reviewed and, by using the search terms "COVID" or "pandemic", this examination identified a total of 4,347 items (31%) referencing the COVID-19 pandemic. Further review of this sub-grouping of public statements revealed that 175 (4%) referred to the availability of student financial assistance during the pandemic. Within these documents, 144 (82%) included information about student financial assistance for domestic students while the remaining 31 (18%) referenced student financial assistance for international students. Following the collection of this textual content, the compiled data were subjected to a systematic thematic analysis to identify, critically appraise, and synthesize texts that were deemed relevant to the outlined research questions (Carter et al., 2015; Davies 2000). The compiled data were analyzed using a grounded theory content analysis approach (Bengtsson, 2016; Krippendorff, 2013). Following this approach, the collected texts were coded in an open-ended fashion and subjected to an extended period of analysis that involved the construction, validation, and confirmation of key themes and categories. This systematic process involved the four main stages of textual analysis identified by Bengtsson (2016). These stages are: a) decontextualisation (open coding of meaning units/themes), b) recontextualisation (cross-referencing themes with original data), c) categorisation (condensation of meaning units/themes into categories), and d) compilation (data analysis, summary, and validation).

Public statements from the universities outlined the impact of the pandemic on university operations, especially during the initial months of the pandemic, such as the suspension of in-person classes, the shift to on-line instruction, the cancellation of activities, and health and safety issues. Public statements pertaining to international students covered a range of issues including study permits, travel, and accommodations. Many universities acknowledged financial hardships experienced by international students as a direct result of the pandemic such as lost income opportunities and food, housing, or travel costs. However, far less information was provided about financial assistance available to them as compared to domestic students. In a number of cases, universities noted emergency bursaries that had been newly established or expanded to include international students facing immediate financial challenges in the wake of the pandemic. In a smaller number of instances, institutions announced new fellowship funding for international students in research-based graduate programs. Several universities highlighted the availability of assistance from the Canadian federal government. For example, universities noted that temporary changes to the popular Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) Program would ensure that eligibility for a work permit following graduation would be maintained in the event that in-class, on-campus programs were moved to an online-only format. Previously, eligibility rules for the PGWP required that half of a student’s program be completed in person at their institution with any distance courses completed outside Canada excluded. A number of universities also pointed to a temporary elimination of work restrictions that prohibited international students from working more than 20 hours per week as long as they were working in health care, critical infrastructure, or the supply critical goods.

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