a little visa information please???

I (canadian citizen) met my bf (he's from Africa) at school (university), and after a couple years, we are planning to get married. But, because he has a student visa, how that could be possible? We don't live together, but we have made a joint account, pay bills, etc. He has few more years to go until he'll graduate (he wants to be a doctor) and I have a year left in my commerce degree. I don't mind waiting, but waiting for a doctoral degree takes a long time... He's also not into living here, in Canada, for the rest of his life; he plans to move back to his country after he gains experience for his line of work. Although, if he becomes a 'canadian' it's much easier for him to travel to canada and his country without hassels of getting a visa. So, would we have to wait until he graduates, or is there a possibilty to get married sooner? I've been doing research and I even visited the CIC website, but there hasn't been any mention of people getting married when one has a student visa. We were thinking of him and I taking a year off or at least a semester off to get married in his home country and I could apply for him to come as a spouse... Although, I'm wondering if that is really necessary when he's already here? I don't know what other information is needed, but any sort of information is helpful.

You sponsor him: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/ ... spouse.asp because he's already legally in Canada you apply from inside of Canada.

see http://roadtocanada.com for info on marriage based immigration to Canada.

Depending on how many more years he's got valid on his student visa, you may or may NOT want to apply inside as Steven suggested. In-land applications can take up to 2 years for CIC to process. Out-land applications typically take only 6 months.