TORONTO - The University of Toronto is stepping up efforts to lure top global scholars by slashing tuition fees for most international PhD students.

Starting this fall, the university says most international PhD students will be charged the same amount as domestic students.

The difference is huge -- the 2017/18 fall-winter session cost international students at the downtown campus $23,692.14, plus ancillary fees, which vary by course.

Meanwhile, domestic students were charged $8,480.14, plus ancillary fees.

Graduate studies dean Joshua Barker says it's part of a bid to "remove any barriers, financial or otherwise, that graduate students might face as they look to attend our university."

The change affects students in all years of a PhD program, but excludes those in doctoral stream master's programs.