Canada Aims to Woo International Students

Ian Willms for the International Herald Tribune

Young people from all over the world walk through the Bahen Center for Information Technology at the University of Toronto, which has the most international students in Canada.

TORONTO â€" The number of college and university students studying internationally has grown more than fourfold since 1975 â€" and Canada wants a larger share of that market.

Kelly Zhong, right, helps another Chinese student at a University of Toronto on-campus tax clinic, where Ms. Zhong volunteers. She says she has learned real-life skills outside the classroom.

Approximately 3.7 million students sought post-secondary education outside their home countries in 2009, compared with 800,000 in 1975, according to Unesco and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This year, the number of international students in Canada exceeded 100,000 for the first time â€" triple the number who studied there in 2000.

Edward Fast, the Canadian minister of international trade and for the Pacific Gateway, released a report by a government panel in August that recommended that Canada double its number of international students by 2022. It called international education “the driver for economic prosperity and social progress.”

“Last year, international students contributed more than 8 billion dollars to Canada’s economy,” Mr. Fast said by e-mail, referencing an amount equal to about $7.8 billion at current rates. “They supported 86,000 Canadian jobs.”

“But the benefits transcend economics as well,” he added. “They’re helping us build a diverse, skilled and globally focused workforce.”

“They’re a vital link as we create the people-to-people ties that will grow our partnerships with countries around the world. As Canadians do more business abroad, we need these kinds of connections,” he said.

Kelly Zhong, a native of Nanjing, China, is a fourth-year economics and statistics student at the University of Toronto who volunteers at its Center for International Education. She also did some off-campus work during the summer.

Her intention is to stay in Canada after graduation, first to earn a master’s degree, and then to gain work experience. “By that time, I will have been here for five years, so I’ll know more about the Canadian job market than the job market in China,” she said.

“Studying abroad is a very good opportunity to experience different things, not only culturally, but different methods of learning,” she said.

That is also true outside the classroom. “We learn practical skills like how to live on our own and how to cook â€" real life skills,” she said. “I could see myself change a lot and improve a lot.”

There is stiff competition among major English-speaking countries for overseas talent who also generally pay full tuition â€" particularly as universities face budget cuts.

“When international students think about where to go, our main competition is the U.S., the U.K. and Australia,” said Paul Davidson, president of the Association of Colleges and Universities of Canada. “We must get Canada on the list of places people consider.”

He added that about 8 percent of Canadian students were from overseas, which is about double the percentage in the United States.

“Canadian universities are recognizing what it takes to recruit internationally,” Mr. Davidson said. “We need a strong national brand proposition, because when international students are choosing a university, they look at the country first, the kind of institution second and the kind of program third.”

“Since we’re a smaller country, they recognize we all have to work together,” he said, referring to universities.

Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia lead the way in recruiting international students to Canada. The University of Toronto, in Ontario, is home to 11,500 international students â€" the largest number in the country â€" according to its Center for International Education.

“International students bring cultural and academic diversity to our university,” said Miranda Cheng, director of the center. “We always want the best and brightest students, and international students bring such richness to our classrooms.”

She credits policies that make it easier to recruit overseas. “The government of Canada really assists the post-secondary sector with its fairly progressive policies with regard to working off campus and post-graduation work,” she said. “They are helping to put Canada on the map.”

A version of this article appeared in print on March 25, 2013, in The International Herald Tribune.