Why universities are trying to recruit overseas students from as many places as possible
Summary
The government’s new focus for the next five years, says Riggs, “is less on growth, more on diversification, and more on strengthening the quality of the students’ experience during and after their studies.” In short, the hunt is on for top students—not only from China and India—to enrich campus life and spread the word back home about Canada as an attractive study destination. “The Saudi experience galvanized [federal] government attention,” says Paul Davidson, president of Universities Canada, crediting the Prime Minister’s Office and senior trade officials for the new, muscular international education strategy. “At my high school, we mostly heard from the United States and not that much from Canada as a whole.” At the University of Toronto, which has racked up record levels of applications from almost all parts of the world over the past six years, diversification is more than a numbers game, says Ted Sargent, vice-president, international. In August, shortly after the federal government added Pakistan (and later Morocco and Senegal) to a select group of countries eligible for streamlined processing of study permit applications, Castellanos flew to Islamabad to meet Pakistani counterparts and Canadian trade officials to discuss recruitment opportunities for fall 2020. Later, university officials took Amaradhasa and fellow newcomers on a tour of Hamilton, complete with ice cream and roller-skating, helped them set up bank accounts and held orientation events to introduce them to academic and social life on campus.