"Shock and panic" hit Centennial College this month when the Toronto-area institution announced it will halt nearly a third of its programs, said Vivian Eke, the student association vice-president at Centennial's Story Arts campus.

Since Ottawa introduced various measures to reduce the number of international students — who'd become a key part of the post-secondary system — the upheaval among students has been like "jumping from one bad situation to another," said Eke, who is studying 3D animati…