Universities across B.C. have been feeling the squeeze following the federal government’s cap on international students, with layoffs hitting dozens of these institutions, including the University of the Fraser Valley.
A total of 45 faculty and staff members were recently laid off in an attempt to bridge the $20 million deficit impacting UFV in the 2026/27 fiscal year.
UFV has campuses in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, and Hope.
The school’s Faculty and Staff Association (FSA), which represents 1,300 UFV employees, announced that several other people chose to leave voluntarily, further reducing the number of employees at UFV.
FSA president Greg Mather said the impact of these layoffs will be far-reaching, especially with future job security still up in the air if significant deficits continue.
“There is also the uncounted impact of ‘silent layoffs’ that occur when sessional or auxiliary contracts are not renewed,” said Mather.
“For this reason, these layoffs and reductions will affect almost everyone in our community, whether they experience layoffs or bumping personally, or whether someone in their department is impacted by these cuts.”
UFV shared a breakdown of the 45 layoffs, which consist of six teaching faculty positions, four non-teaching faculty positions, and 35 staff positions. There were also three involuntary workload restrictions implemented.
“The FSA regrets that the fallout from financial restrictions falls primarily on our colleagues,” said Mather.
“Despite all the uncertainty and layoff notices, our members continue to show up for work, teach, support our students, and keep UFV campuses operational.”
Even with these staffing reductions, recent increases in domestic and international tuition, and various program cuts, Mather said there still remains a $2.4 million deficit to be managed for the 2026/27 fiscal year.
UFV acting communications director Stacy Kirpichova said the school has been emphasizing transparency with the community during what is a challenging time for all Canadian universities.
“At this time, our focus remains on working through the budget process responsibly, recognizing the impact on our people, while continuing to support students and maintain core services,” said Kirpichova.
She said the university has also been exploring ways to develop UFV campus land to generate more revenue.
Through the UFV Properties Trust, the school is looking at developing underutilized areas of the Abbotsford and Chilliwack campuses to create livable communities for future students.
The university anticipates that revenue generated from this development would help fund capital projects, research and programming initiatives, and scholarships not covered by regular government funding, rather than just going directly to general operating funds.
UFV is not the only Lower Mainland school hit with layoffs in recent months, with Kwantlen Polytechnic University also laying off 70 faculty members in March.
These financial troubles partially stem from the 2024 restriction on international student enrollment visas, which sought to reduce Canada’s temporary population to less than five per cent of the total population.
As part of this program, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced it plans to issue only 408,000 study permits in 2026, which is a seven per cent reduction from 2025.
International student caps and slower visa approval times have caused significant drops in revenue for universities, which often charge triple or even quadruple the amount of tuition for foreign students compared to domestic ones.
At UFV, the number of international students had climbed to nearly 3,000 in the 2024-25 school year, which made up 18 per cent of the total student population.
However, these changes passed down from the federal government have caused a projected 25 per cent reduction in international student enrollment for 2025-26, resulting in millions of dollars in lost tuition revenue.
Mather said he’d like to see more people petition the federal and provincial governments to increase visas and funding for international students to secure the future of education in B.C.