Prince Edward Island’s Holland College is leading a fight against a decades-old rule that limits the number of foreign students who can dress for varsity sports teams, saying it hampers international recruitment.

For 20 years the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association has restricted the number of international students who can play on these teams to one in six players, to maintain parity and guarantee spots for Canadians.

Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the more high-profile league that governs the country’s university sports programs, has no such cap, with one exception: men’s basketball, where three international players are allowed. Even so, foreign students remain a small proportion of their student athletes.