STUDY​

Canada’s new Strategy has three key objectives:

• Encourage Canadian students to gain new skills through study and work abroad opportunities in key global markets, especially Asia
• Diversify the countries from which international students come to Canada, as well as their fields, levels of study, and location of study within Canada
• Increase support for Canadian education sector institutions to help grow their export services and explore new opportunities abroad

To implement the Strategy, Budget 2019 allocated $147.9 million over five years, followed by $8 million per year of ongoing funding. Key elements of the Strategy include:

A five-year pilot project will support up to 11,000 college and university undergraduate students to study or work abroad in alignment with larger Government of Canada priorities. Financial assistance will range from $5,000 to $10,000/year. Half of the funds in the pilot will support equal access to international mobility opportunities and market diversification for underrepresented students (e.g. low-income students, Indigenous students, and students with disabilities). Students from these groups are the least likely to pursue study abroad opportunities, but stand to gain the most from those opportunities, gaining highly-valued skills and competencies and developing a professional network of contacts within their field of study.

The pilot will also support students from outside of those groups, prioritizing study abroad opportunities to countries outside of the traditional destinations of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. Encouraging these students to study in less traditional study abroad locations—particularly in Asia and Latin America—will foster specialized knowledge and new economic ties with these regions to the Canadian workforce. In particular, Asia represents a significant strategic opportunity for Canada: with strong projections for future growth and important cultural and business ties in the region, it’s essential that an increasing number of Canadians pursue work and study opportunities there.

Studying abroad can present logistical challenges, particularly for students who have never travelled overseas. Post-secondary institutions accessing funding through the pilot will provide wraparound supports and guidance to students studying abroad, as well as develop security strategies to ensure that Canadian students studying in other countries can do so safely. In parallel, post-secondary institutions will provide integration supports to students studying on their campuses.

The pilot will also test new approaches to maximizing participation and responding to learners’ needs.

The pilot will be evaluated by an independent third party from 2022 to 2024 and include analysis of feedback from users to determine future directions for the project.

Canadian woman who studied in China

“Being trilingual, mobile, enthusiastic, analytical, and eager to learn and understand, enabled me to find a job quickly, which keeps me in contact with China every day and puts into practice my knowledge and skills, to the benefit of my organization.”

IEC is a federal initiative that enables Canadians between the ages of 18 to 35 to work and travel in any of more than 30 partner countries. In exchange, Canada allows youth from partner countries to work and travel in Canada. Many more foreign youth participate in the program than do Canadians, however, and four countries (France, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand) traditionally receive a total of 80% of Canadian participants. Promotion of the IEC will increase under the new International Education Strategy, aimed at raising awareness among Canadian youth of opportunities to work and travel abroad under the program. This is expected to increase both the popularity of IEC and the number of Canadian youth with valuable skill sets sought after by employers in today’s global markets.

IEC and the Outbound Student Mobility Pilot will increase the pool of Canadians with intercultural competencies and knowledge of other societies.

Suzanne, former IEC participant

“Australia had always been a place I wanted to explore. During my year there, I worked with the Victorian Electoral Commission in Melbourne assisting with post-state election activities and with an Aboriginal education training company in Alice Springs to help prepare for its annual audit. Both were truly unique experiences. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the memories and the technical and life skills that I gained from deciding to work and live abroad.”

A new digital marketing strategy will aim to diversify Canada’s international education sector and address regional and demographic gaps. It will target growing numbers of students from new source countries, as well as those seeking a wider choice of programs. Priority countries include Brazil, Colombia, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, the Ukraine and Vietnam. The scope of target countries will be adjusted regularly, based on the needs of Canadian provinces and territories, education associations, institutions, relevant international student statistics, and additional data analysis.

Campaigns will also raise the profile of regions, schools, French language programs and programs that traditionally attract fewer international students. China and India will remain important sources of international students for Canada, with a focus on in-country diversification to attract students from different regions within those countries and in other areas and levels of study.

The new marketing strategy will feature new tools, channels and technologies that influence the choices of international students and will fully capitalize on the EduCanada brand. Ongoing analysis of results, along with input from provinces, territories and stakeholders, will inform adjustments to the marketing strategy.

To complement these marketing efforts and to increase exports of educational services and products, the Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) will intensify its efforts to grow and diversify Canada’s international education sector. Enhanced TCS initiatives will include better training for trade commissioners on the capacity of Canada’s education sector, more international recruitment fairs, and a larger Canadian presence at signature international events in the sector.

China and India will remain important markets for Canada in international education. The new Strategy will focus on diversifying source regions for students within China and India, as well as levels, programs and regions of study across Canada, to amplify economic benefits and create jobs in more of our communities. The Strategy will also seek to diversify opportunities in both markets for Canadian stakeholders to deploy their expertise, for instance, in areas such as early childhood learning, flight training, and care of the elderly in China, and in aviation (pilot training), teacher training, hospitality, health-care training and corporate training in India.

The Strategy will expand the Student Direct Stream to additional markets. The Student Direct Stream endeavours to offer faster processing of study permit applications to prospective international students from certain countries who plan to study in Canada at the post-secondary level. To be eligible, applicants must submit electronic applications and provide certain upfront documents to demonstrate that they meet specific eligibility criteria in addition to meeting all study permit requirements under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its Regulations.

The development of a dynamic electronic applications process will enable Canada to offer timely immigration services and effectively manage the increasing demand of foreign nationals seeking to visit or study, work or stay permanently in Canada. This will further enable clients to receive decisions in a timely manner and assist in increasing the quality of applications.

Increased scholarship funding for incoming international students will help to attract top talent from a broad range of countries, strengthen bilateral relations and partnerships, and contribute to diversification efforts.

Canada currently has a variety of scholarship programs for specific regions and countries that do not benefit from a unified, comprehensive promotional strategy. The Strategy will consolidate existing programs under a coherent narrative to facilitate promotion and raise awareness in target markets.

Measuring success

As the new Strategy is implemented, Global Affairs Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will closely monitor key indicators of progress and develop new performance measures to ensure that the Strategy delivers what it sets out to achieve and to identify potential improvements. Performance measures may include the number of leads generated by marketing campaigns and other promotional efforts; awareness among Canadian youth of the International Experience Canada program (IEC); and the experiences of participants in the Outbound Student Mobility Pilot and IEC. These measures will be analyzed regularly and revised as needed to align with Government of Canada priorities and in light of international education trends.

Conclusion: Greater contribution to Canada’s prosperity

Under the International Education Strategy (2019–2024), the education sector will grow its potential and benefit greater numbers of middle class Canadians. The Strategy will support the efforts of provinces and territories responsible for education, address current and emerging challenges in collaboration with partners and stakeholders and follow a consistent approach throughout its five-year life cycle. By building on the sector’s success, the Strategy will equip Canada with the skills, knowledge and expertise needed to innovate and thrive in the global economy. 

Annexes

Figure 1: Canada – Number of study permit holders by study level and by year in which permit(s) became effective

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, temporary residents data, February 28, 2019

Figure 2: Canada – Study permit holders with valid permit as of December 31, 2018, by country of citizenship

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2018

Figure 3: Distribution of international students in Canada

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2017

Figure 4: Percentage of undergrads studying abroad while pursuing degree

Source: https://www.international.gc.ca/education/strategy-2019-2024-strategie.aspx?lang=eng#4