Promoting Canadian International Education: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Need for Innovation

Author: 
Daniel Guhr, Jean-Phillipe Tachdjian
Publisher: 
CONAHEC
Year of Publication: 
2010

Canada is an attractive destination for international students. From 2000 to 2008, overall international student enrollments nearly doubled to 178,000. Drivers are the quality of education, safety, affordability, and a welcoming immigration policy. Yet this growth took place with neither a central, coordinating agency nor a distinct education brand until 2008 when Canada rolled out the Education au/in Canada brand. The impact of these missing enablers has been clear: While international student enrollments grew, Canada lost overall tertiary market share (OECD). Efforts are underway to solidify strategic and operational aspects of promoting Canadian international education. Efforts range from increased resource allocation to fundamental organizational design decisions to the exploration of new promotion channels through coordinated scholarships or online community strategies. The co]panelists will reflect on findings and recommendations from recent research, and highlight the need for at times marked departures from past practices towards new, innovative approaches.

Event Information
Event Title: 
13e Colloque nord-américain sur l'enseignement supérieure du CONAHEC - Houston 2010
Event Description: 

Join leaders and practitioners of higher education, business, government and students at Rice University in the city of Houston, Texas for CONAHEC’s 13th North American Higher Education Conference!North Americans share many historical, cultural, and linguistic bonds and have many common issues to face. Since the signing of NAFTA, our region has become the largest trading block in the world, inextricably linked by growing economic ties. Leaders in North America recognize that regional and individual community prosperity depends largely on the global competencies of our future professionals -- today's students.A decade and a half into NAFTA, it is evident that our region must develop stronger, more productive and more resilient linkages both internally and with other world regions. Governmental and educational leaders acknowledge that higher education institutions in North America must be more proactive in offering students opportunities to gain international expertise by becoming more internationally oriented while simultaneously strengthening local connections in their teaching, research and public service functions. Higher education has an important role to play in strengthening North America and connecting it with the rest of the world.