Canada Is Planning To Attract 450,000 Foreign Students And Researchers By 2022

20 Jan 2014

Canadian Minister of International Trade, the Honorable Ed Fast has launched a new ‘International Education Strategy’. This new strategy is created to enhance and maintain the global position of Canada in higher education. The primary goal of the International Education Strategy is to attract more overseas researchers and overseas students to Canada and aiding Canadian students abroad thereby support innovation and forge opportunities and create jobs in every region of Canada.

The comprehensive plan schedules targets to attract more overseas students and researchers to Canada, extend the research links between international and Canadian educational institutions and forge a pan-Canadian partnership with territories and provinces and all primary education stakeholders, including the private sector.

The International Education Strategy is a critical part of the Global Markets Action Plan, which was announced recently. After extensive consultations by an advisory panel, the strategy has been devised.

It will help Canada to boost its already strong education performances and advantages. Capitalizing on these enormous opportunities will enhance economic growth, create jobs and help Canada enhance and retain its global leadership position and become more competitive, prosperous and innovative.

An ongoing fund of $5 million per year has been approved in Economic Action Plan 2013, which will be committed to uphold the goals of the International Education Strategy. Primarily, this investment will be devoted to marketing and branding Canada as a world-class education destination among people from 6 priority markets.

Apart from this, the Globalink program of Mitacs will be provided with $13 million over two years by the strategy. Mitacs is a Canadian not-for-profit organization which promotes innovation through training and research programs. The Globalink program expedites student mobility between Canada and India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam and Turkey.

The International Education Strategy attempts to double the number of overseas students to Canada, without displacing Canadian students, by the year 2022.

Drawing over 450,000 overseas researchers and overseas students to Canada by 2022 will:

• Create a minimum of 86,500 net new jobs, bringing the total of jobs sustained by overseas education in Canada to 173,100 new jobs;
• See a rise of foreign student expenditures in Canada to more than $16.1 billion, generating prosperity and economic growth in every region of Canada; and
• Provide an annual boost of approximate $10 billion to the Canadian economy.

Other important elements of the International Education Strategy include:

• Focusing efforts and resources on priority markets that coordinate with Canada’s Global Markets Action Plan (India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam, North Africa and the Middle East);
• Developing the education ‘brand’ of Canada, which will be used by all partners in priority markets;
• Improving collaboration and linkages between Canadian and overseas educational institutions and research institutes; and
• Entrenching a pan-Canadian approach in the overseas education sector with all key stakeholders and coordinate activities to better advance shared objectives.