International student enrolment at a high

Canada one of the top five destinations for foreign students

Joanna Bhaskaran, staff

Canadian universities have become one of the most popular educational facilities for foreign students, according to a recently released study by Statistics Canada based on data from the 2005-06 academic year. The study, released on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008 shows a record high of 80,200 international students enrolled in Canadian universities.

Representing 7.7 per cent of the total Canadian enrolment of an estimated 1,047,700 university students, foreign students in 2005 at 80,200 were at nearly double the numbers of the previous decade. In the mid-1970s around 40,200 students were studying in Canada’s universities, colleges and schools.

The Australian government released a study in 2007 ranking Canada fourth for international education alongside the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

A study conducted in 2007 using data from 2000 onwards by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) on Canadian students and international student mobility showed that Canadian universities attract students from over 200 countries.

The leading country of origin for international students coming to Canada has been, since 2001, China; in 2004, Chinese students accounted for 23 per cent of full-time post-secondary attendees.

The United States, with close to 7,000 students, France with 5,000 students, India with 2,500 students and South Korea, Iran, Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico and Pakistan all have about 1,000 full-time international students in Canada. These top 10 countries account for 60 per cent of foreign students in Canada.

Tony Rogge, director of the International Student Centre at the University of Manitoba, believes that Canada, as an educational destination, is popular for a number of reasons.

“It’s partly due to the fact that people believe the quality of education they will receive in Canada is very high. The education is comparable to the best institutions in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. However, the fees and the cost of living, especially in places like Manitoba, are very competitive. There’s also a certain kind of status associated with the maple Leaf, a place where there’s lots of freedom, the standard of living is very high and where people can feel welcome and blend in.”

The AUCC study further revealed that 92 per cent of institutions cited “promoting and internationalized campus and greater diversity” as their top reason for recruiting international students. The generation of revenue, was cited as the next most important reason, by 62 per cent of institutions, as the extra tuition paid by international students is very important to the upkeep of many universities.

The Statistics Canada study revealed that Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia attracted the majority of international students with almost 78 per cent of the foreign student population.

Radhika Ravi, a third-year business student at the University of Warwick in England, said that she could see the benefit of studying in Canada but based her international schooling decision on emotions.

“Given the choice, I would have definitely chosen Canada. The standard of education, the quality of living, and competitive fees are all that attracted me here, and I did send off quite a number of applications. However, the decision to study in England was made because of the opportunity to remain a little closer to home. It doesn’t take me two days to go back to my home in Bahrain, and that means that I go home at least twice a year, which definitely wouldn’t happen if I came to Canada.”

According to Statistics Canada, a number of factors contribute to the growth of the international student population including rapid economic growth of many southeast Asian countries, especially China.

Dave Morphy, vice-provost of student affairs for the University of Manitoba, said, “We have a number of different strategies in place for international student recruitment. Recruitment fairs do generate a lot of exposure but we also do school visitations before and after the fair, and offer seminars specific to University of Manitoba, and these seem to be very successful.”

“We have other strategies that we use to attract cohorts of students. The most potentially productive is the two plus two program, where students do two years in institutions in their home countries and then come here to complete their degree,” said Morphy.

The U of M was also one of the first to offer scholarships for foreign students, according to Morphy.

“The University of Manitoba has already reached its target of 10 per cent international students and is now working on maintaining those numbers,” said Morphy.

“International students bring such an exciting cultural diversity, they come with tremendous history and culture, and provide interesting opportunities for Canadian students to interact with them and provide more knowledge about different cultures and world-views, and they continue to be an important part of the University of Manitoba.”