List of Blacklisted Colleges in Canada & How to Avoid Them!

In January 2022, 3 Montreal colleges were blacklisted and shut down abruptly, leaving around 2000 Indian students in the dark about their future. Later reports uncovered severe financial irregularities and other illegal activities which led the Canadian government to revoke these schools’ licences. (Source: CBC News)

Since studying abroad is an expensive decision and most Indian students take hefty student loans to pursue their degrees. Due diligence must be done before finalising any college. This article uncovers what exactly are backlisted colleges and what effects they can have on your career. It will also provide an updated list of blacklisted colleges in Canada.

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Blacklisted Colleges in Canada: Overview

Many students unknowingly join blacklisted colleges only to find out that their degrees are not recognised anywhere. As a result, the graduates can not find a job which forces them to stay back and pursue another degree which becomes another financial burden. This leads to many complications for students. When a college shuts down like the 3 blacklisted colleges in Montreal this year, the validity of the students’ visa expires as they are technically not considered ‘students’ anymore.

In this post, we have covered every question you might have about blacklisting, including a list of blacklisted colleges in Canada.

List of Blacklisted Colleges in Canada

Like any other country, Canada also has a long list of blacklisted educational institutions. Even the best cities in Canada like Toronto and Ottawa have several blacklisted colleges that students must avoid.

So here is the list of blacklisted colleges in Canada that are fined for civil law violations, facing suspension, convicted of criminal activity, banned, or subjected to by-law infractions –

• CanPacific College of Business & English Inc.
• Quest Language Studies Corp.
• Everest Colleges of Canada Inc. (Everest)
• Guyana Training School for International Skills Inc.
• Huron Flight Centre Inc. operating as Huron Flight College
• All Metal Welding Technology Inc.
• Archer College Language School Toronto
• Education Canada College
• Academy of Teaching and Training Inc.
• CLLC Canadian Language Learning College Inc.
• LSBF Canada Inc.
• Seneca Groups Inc. o/a Crown Academic International School
• Toronto College of Technology Inc.
• Academy of Teaching and Training Inc.
• Access Care Academy of Job Skills
• Upper Madison College

All these colleges are spread across different provinces like Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, etc.

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Blacklisted Colleges: Meaning & Process

If a school or a university is blacklisted, then it means that it has lost all its accreditation. In other words, the degree or diploma from this university is not recognised. It usually happens when a university breaks some rules or does something unlawful. Such measures are also taken by the Canadian government if a parent, teacher, agent, or student makes a blacklist request against the school. These claims are investigated and if found true, then the institute will be fined or banned.

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Consequences of Studying in a Blacklisted College

Students unknowingly enrol themselves in blacklisted colleges in Canada without knowing the actual truth. Spending thousands of dollars and getting enrolled in a blacklisted university might be hard to digest. This can have devastating consequences on the life of the student, both on a personal and professional front. Here are some of them –

• Degrees from blacklisted colleges are not recognised or hold any value in the Canadian job market.
• Since students can not find a job, they are forced to complete another degree to get a credible degree. This leads to an additional financial burden.
• After a college is blacklisted, the students cannot avail student visa or any other benefits such as student discounts which leads to a lot of paperwork and additional expenses.
• Going through the ordeal of visa expiration, time spent on getting another degree and additional expenses take a toll on students’ wellbeing as well.

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Hidden Consequences of Blacklisting

So far, we have seen the consequences of blacklisting only on students. Unfortunately, blacklisting can also damage the reputation of many good institutes. For instance, various sources wrongly convey that a good institute has been blacklisted.

This has paved the way for several criminals who have started to scam good colleges using fake lists. Criminals go online and make multiple fake blacklist reviews on an institute. Then these criminals blackmail the school either through email or phone and demand a hefty sum of money to take down those fake reviews. Some students also publish wrong information about the institute to blackmail the institute into boosting their marks or grades in exchange to remove the false blacklist review.

Tips to Avoid Enrolling in Blacklisted Colleges

Now, that we have the list of blacklisted colleges in Canada, here are some tips that will help international students who do not know the Canadian education landscape well –

• Make sure you do enough research. Go through different guides offered by different experts.
• If you find that a college is listed as blacklisted on a website, it is not necessarily true that the college is bad or blacklisted. Several scam lists and websites are listing good colleges as blacklisted. So duly research the authenticity of the website before making a call.
• Find other sources that support the claim of college status.
• You can try to reach out to the website and ask for details on why and how the institute was blacklisted.
• You can also try reaching out to the alumni students and the present students of the institute to know more about these claims.

Once you have done all this research, then there is a good chance that you have all the right information to decide whether a university is blacklisted or not.

Conclusion

Before enrolling in an institution, always do proper research and if possible get in touch with alumni to understand the credibility of the school. The list of blacklisted colleges mentioned in this article is no longer operational in Canada, so you don’t have to worry about them. But there might be others who accept students with low scores and therefore students might make the mistake of enrolling in such colleges. If you have low scores but want to ensure that you apply and get admission to reputed and accredited colleges, you can speak to study abroad experts at LeapScholar.

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