International student market in Canada worth $15.5 billion

Canada is working with colleges and universities to attract even more students, despite soaring international enrolments in the country.

Representatives from educational institutions are working with government officials to develop a strategy to target growth markets for the Canada study permit, reported immigration.ca

Target countries include those growing economically with lots of young people, including Colombia and certain African nations.

New federal government figures show international students contribute $15.5 billion per year to the Canadian economy, supporting nearly 170,000 jobs in 2016.

At the end of 2018, there were 572,415 study permit holders in Canada. University enrolment alone increased by 15 percent between 2017 and 2018, according to figures from Universities Canada.

Study Permit numbers have increased 180 percent in the last decade, as successive governments have recognized the benefit to the Canadian economy of increasing international student levels.

A three-step process has been established in Canada targeting international students. First, they hold Study Permits while in full-time education, second, they become eligible for a Post Graduation Work Permit, and third, they can use all the experience gathered to qualify for permanent residence.

International students are an important source of revenue for Canada’s schools, paying significantly higher tuition fees than their Canadian counterparts.

With Canadian education much cheaper than across the border in the U.S., Canada’s best universities are often seen as a pathway to a world-class education without the dollar outlay required south of the border.

Students from India and China dominate the international student landscape, accounting for 315,610, or 55 per cent, of the total Study Permit holders in Canada.

“Increasingly, what we’re seeing among our member institutions, universities included, is a real proactive effort to diversify their student populations,” said Larissa Bezo, president and CEO of the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE). “We’re beginning to see the fruit of these investments,” she told universityaffairs.ca

At universities, it’s common for international students to make up at least 15 percent of enrolments and sometimes much more. Lakehead, with 1,400 international students, is well on the way to meeting its 2023 target of 2,000 international students, representing 20 percent of its enrolment. Nine years ago, it had just 150 international students.

The University of British Columbia has seen international enrolment climb nearly 60 percent in four years. It has 16,000 international students, representing a quarter of its enrolment. “The sense that international students have of Canada is that it’s a place that is committed to the idea of global citizenship, and that resonates deeply with this generation,” said Murali Chandrashekaran, UBC’s vice-provost, international.

The University of Windsor opened its first international recruitment office last December, in New Delhi, to better service its top international market of India (followed by China, Nigeria and Bangladesh). The university’s special focus on students interested in a foreign master’s degree in business or STEM disciplines has more than paid off: international students make up 70 percent of the university’s graduate student enrolment, about 2,700 students, representing a six-fold increase in the last decade.

“[Canada’s] immigration policy is the primary driver,” observed Chris Busch, the university’s assistant vice-president, enrolment management. It allows international students to work during and after their studies, and provides a pathway to permanent residency, which some 60 percent of international students planned to seek, according to a 2018 CBIE survey. A low

The exponential growth comes as the key demographic of young adults in Canada is flat or declining in some regions. International students, by adding to enrolment rosters and contributing to revenues in an era of restrained government support, are “creating opportunities for Canadian students,” said Paul Davidson, president and CEO of Universities Canada.

For smaller communities, especially those trying to recover after the loss of key industries, international students can also provide an economic shot in the arm. Cape Breton University’s more than 2,700 international students – the number more than doubled between 2017 and 2018 – have been estimated to contribute about $60 million a year to the local Sydney, Nova Scotia, economy.

The good news story could be a double-edged sword if planners aren’t careful, though. Last summer, university administrators witnessed the risks of relying on any single country when Saudi Arabia said it was recalling its students due to a diplomatic dispute with Canada – although in the end the number of students who left was less than originally feared. “It served as a wake-up call across the country,” said James Aldridge, vice-provost, international, at Lakehead.

Then, Canada got into a spat with China – by far the top source country for international university students – over the arrest in this country of Chinese senior telecommunications executive Meng Wanzhou. Moody’s credit agency warned that if political tensions between the two countries worsened, this could pose “credit risks for Canadian universities.”

With international students paying annual tuitions of anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000-plus a year, a significant pullback would leave universities exposed. In its budget report for 2018-2019, the University of Toronto noted that international student fees accounted for 30 percent of revenue, more than provincial grants (25 percent).

That has made “diversification” the mot du jour among Canadian international education administrators. Universities Canada said it would like to see Canada give serious backing to a fresh, sector-led, five-year international education strategy that identifies a group of source countries with the best promise for student recruitment based on factors such as existing partnerships, trade agreements and where Canada has a realistic opportunity to compete.

To that end, there’s much applause for the federal government’s 2019 budget earmarking $148 million over the next five years for a new international education strategy, part of which is intended to promote Canada to “top-tier foreign students,” so that they choose it as their “education destination of choice.”

While Canada has “done a good job,” of competing – it garnered fourth place for market share in 2017, ahead of Australia and France, but behind the U.S., U.K., and China, according to CBIE – Mr. Davidson noted that federal government spending to promote the Canadian education brand has been about $5 million a year, compared to $7.5 million by New Zealand and $12 million by Australia. It’s time to take Canada’s pitch “to the next level,” he said. “It’s about seizing this moment, when Canada is seen as open, inclusive and dynamic.”

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