20th National Education Marketing Roundtable (NEMR)
Minutes
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT)
Robertson Boardroom, Ottawa, Ontario
Friday, November 18, 2011
Chair: Claire Poulin
Director, International Education & Youth Division, DFAIT
Deputy Chair: Lee-Anne Herman
Deputy Director, Edu-Canada, DFAIT
Welcoming remarks
After welcoming participants to the meeting, Claire Poulin introduced the new members working in the International Education and Youth Division including the three members of the newly formed Advisory Panel Secretariat.
The 10th anniversary of NEMR was then acknowledged, citing major gains for international education in Canada since the first meeting in November 2001.
Approval of agenda and minutes
The agenda and the minutes were adopted without any changes or objections.
Advisory Panel on the International Education Strategy
Claire Poulin, Director, International Education and Youth Division
The Advisory Panel, which represents an expert and objective pan-Canadian view of Canadian universities, colleges and private sector, will make recommendations as to the best path forward for Canada’s International Education Strategy. To support this strategy, the government of Canada allocated $10 million over two years in its Budget 2011. The Advisory Panel Secretariat, working under the direction of Edu-Canada, is supporting the Panel in its endeavors.
The members of the Advisory Panel are:
- Dr. Amit Chakma (Chair) President and Vice Chancellor, University of Western Ontario
- Mr. André Bisson, Chair of the Board, Centre for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations, lead director, Transat A.T. and Chancellor Emeritus, Université de Montréal
- Ms. Jacynthe Côté, President and CEO, Rio Tinto Alcan
- Dr. Colin Dodds, President, Saint Mary’s University
- Ms. Lorna Smith, Director, Office of International Education, Mount Royal University
- Dr. Don Wright, President, British Columbia Institute of Technology
The process of making recommendations will go through five phases and conclude in June 2012. It was noted that the Panel recently held its first two meetings, and, at the time of the NEMR, was in its first phase of consultations with the provinces and territories, as well as all key national education associations, institutions and other stakeholders. Participants were informed that the first phase of online consultations open to the public would end on November 28th and those who had not yet contributed their thoughts and ideas were strongly encouraged to do so by Ms. Poulin. As key stakeholders and decision makers in education, Ms. Poulin stressed that the opinions of those present are essential to ensuring that the Advisory Panel is best equipped to make its recommendations to the government.
In summary, the following phases in the Advisory Panel’s process of making recommendations are:
Phase 1: Online Consultations (as mentioned)
Phase 2: Engagement
Roundtables will focus on concrete actions and have a limited number of participants to ensure effective discussion. They will be held across the country by invitation only on the following dates:
- December 5 – Ottawa
- December 7 – Halifax
- December 8 – Montreal
- December 9 – Toronto
- December 12 – Edmonton
- December 13 – Vancouver
Phase 3: Collaboration - Engagement
A “Collaboratory” will be held on January 18 to 19, 2012. It will involve all key participants in the decision-making process that will lead to the strategy and set out the contributions of all partners.
Phase 4: Interim Recommendations
Will be developed following the Collaboratory in January 2012.
Phase 5: Final Recommendations
Will be submitted to the Ministers of International Trade and Finance by June 15, 2012.
Ms. Poulin mentioned that meetings with Provincial and Territorial Ministries of Education and CMEC are also on the agenda of the Advisory Panel.
During the questions and answers period it was recommended that the Advisory Panel consider Canada’s linguistic duality as strength in international education. It was also recommended that the Advisory Panel look at the entire spectrum of education in Canada, including both the K-12 and language schools, when elaborating its recommendations.
Ms. Poulin responded by encouraging all stakeholders to express their views to the Panel by completing their online submissions. She went on to add that representatives from all stakeholder groups would be invited to attend the roundtables.
Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE)
Claire Poulin, Director, International Education and Youth Division
The second edition of the Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE) will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from April 25 to 28, 2012. This conference will provide an excellent opportunity for Canada to raise its profile in Brazil and to forge institutional partnerships. DFAIT plans to have a large promotional exhibit at the conference and is pleased that the Governor General, the Right Honourable David Johnston, will be opening the event and leading the AUCC delegation of nearly 40 university presidents.
AUCC Delegation to Brazil
Gail Bowkett, Assistant Director, International Relations, AUCC
Brazil is a very high priority for Canadian universities and AUCC has developed a strategy to improve this important relationship. AUCC is organizing a mission of 30-40 Canadian university presidents to travel to Brazil in April 2012. This mission will be led by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, and will coincide with the second Conference of the Americas on International Education.
The mission will include events in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Sao Paulo where there will be opportunities to promote Canadian excellence in research, highlight Canada’s brand and encourage further academic collaboration.
Brazilian Scholarship Program – Science Without Borders
Claude Bibeau, Deputy Director, International Education and Youth Division
The Government of Brazil officially launched its Science Without Borders scholarships program on July 28, 2011. The goal of the new program is to send 100,000 Brazilian students to study internationally for one year or less over the next four (4) years. Scholarships will be granted for studies in the STEM fields. Brazil is currently seeking to identify various international partners to implement these scholarships. A number of countries, including the USA, Germany and France, for example, have already launched specific initiatives/programs to host Brazilian students in the new program. The UK, Australia and the Netherlands are currently in the negotiation phase with Brazil and hope to launch programs in the coming months. As for Canada, some Canadian stakeholders have already come forward with proposals to the Brazilian authorities regarding the implementation of these scholarships.
DFAIT encourages Canadian associations, organizations, consortia, institutions, etc. to participate in the Science Without Borders program and stresses the need for prompt and coordinated action in this regard.
Update of Edu-Canada Initiative
Sylvie-Michèle Racicot, Brand Manager, Edu-Canada
Ms. Racicot presented some of the new tools and resources developed by Edu-Canada and inspired by the comments received by the attendees of last summer’s NEMR and during the last NAFSA conference. The up-dated version of the Education au-in Canada website was presented: www.educationau-incanada.ca. The modifications to the website were made to better capture the attention of international students.
Other new tools and resources presented included sector specific brochures which link education and industry. Four brochures will be published, one for each of the following industries:
- Life Sciences and Biomedical Technology;
- Information and Communications Technology;
- Energy Sciences and Technologies; and
- Environmental Sciences and Technologies.
An updated copy of the Colleges and Universities Map was also presented as were the education Sector Briefs for the K-12, College, University and Language School sectors.
Report on Canada's Capacity for International Student Enrolment
Daniel J. Guhr, Ph.D., Managing Director, Illuminate Consulting Group
The Report, in its entirety, will be made available at a later date. The following is a summary of the key points mentioned during Dr. Guhr’s presentation.
To date, Canada’s international post-secondary enrolment share is moderate with regards to international enrolment as a percentage of total post-secondary enrolment. Even a strong growth scenario in the near future will not result in more than mid-tier enrolment share levels. Relative to population, Canada was at the level of France and Germany with regards to International Higher Education Students in 2009.
Canada currently has no notable capacity concerns with regards to enrolling international higher education students at a national level. While enrolment levels differ at Provincial levels, data do not indicate capacity issues either. Enrolment levels in certain metropolitan areas (and specific institutions) are reaching elevated levels. However, in international comparison, these levels are neither unusual nor unmanageable.
At the K-12 level, international students account for a very small share. Given demographic trends, additional international student enrolments should be warmly welcomed.
Key consideration should be given to the compound enrolment level of international students and landed immigrants. The impact of landed immigrants on enrolment capacity could not be analyzed owing to a lack of data. However, higher education institutions have indicated that landed immigrants are a key issue to be confronted from an analytical, pedagogical, and quality assurance perspective.
General migration and economic trends would suggest that the enrolment impact of landed immigrants is especially pronounced in metropolitan areas. Some institutions enrol 20-50% landed immigrants (especially colleges). Key issues mentioned by higher education institutions are language ability, academic preparedness, and specific cultural traits (e.g., discussion culture, group work, plagiarism). The lack of data and research on landed immigrants is a key deficiency.
Internationally, Australia has lived a strong system-wide expansion of postsecondary enrolment over the last decade, seeing domestic as well as international onshore and offshore students consistently rise between 2001 and 2012. Since 2003, more than 30% of total graduate students in Australia have been international students. Graduate level enrolments are likely to continue growing over the next 10 years.
The United States of America has added more than 5 million higher education students since 2000. While international student enrolment shares have held steady over the last 10 years, demographics drove the strong expansion in the last decade.
Key international student enrolment issues Canada must address in the near future:
- Diversity of student source countries
- Broader spread of subjects studied
- Safeguarding of quality classroom experiences
- Balance between undergraduate and graduate students (i.e. shift to graduate students)
- English/French language ability (specifically at an academic level)
- Fraud detection
- Quality assurance
- Pedagogical adjustments to the new pool of students to be educated
- Curricula redesign to take advantage of internationalized student poolsThe issue to consider is not capacity itself, but how capacity is being managed.
During the questions and answers period it was mentioned that Canada is unique as a very large recipient of foreign students and yet having relatively little data on its international students.
Additionally, data collection has shown that education systems which grow too strongly eventually run into quality maintenance and delivery problems. This has always happened when there have been 5 or 6 years of highly accelerated growth dynamics and Australia is a key example of this. A maximum growth range of 4 to 6%, if well managed, is suggested. Furthermore, focus should be placed on quality and not quantity.
Lastly, it was noted that the earlier you recruit talented students the better, and the cheaper, it is to have them stay in their host country after their studies and contribute to the Canadian economy.
Closing Remarks
Claire Poulin, Director, International Education and Youth Division
Following her closing remarks, Ms. Poulin invited the members at the table to speak of the recent activities and events happening in their respective associations and regions in a “tour de table”.
- It was noted that, in the future, it would be preferred to receive electronic copies of the presentations prior to meetings.
- Ontario recently had elections which saw two new Ministers named: Glen Murray, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU), and Laura Broten, the new Minister of Education. MTCU is pursuing their international agenda and thanked DFAIT on behalf of the western provinces and Ontario for their assistance during their mission to the United Kingdom. The mission aimed at identifying potential markets and was very promising. Subsequently, a number of advisory committees were struck with both the university and college sectors to provide input for a future direction in international education in Ontario.
- Quebec is between two strategies as the 2008-2011 strategy comes to an end and the province considers the following steps to take. In the meantime, regular activities are ongoing, including scholarship and tuition exemption programs. The province was also pleased to introduce its new promotional website for international students: www.maplaceauquebec.ca.
- CAPS-I recently took part in the ICEF Berlin fair. Their participation was well received and they met with 22 agents and 22 school boards. CAPS-I will be holding a conference at the beginning of May in Vancouver and hopes that associations from different sectors will attend as they are trying to develop pathways with other sectors. For more information and to register, people are invited to visit their website: www.caps-i.ca.
- CETAC reminded attendees with any questions on standards for quality assurance in private colleges, to visit their website: www.cetac.ca, or e-mail them at info@cetac.ca. At the end of October, CETAC was pleased to meet and present to the Technical and Vocational Corporation of Saudi Arabia in Ottawa. CETAC thanked CBIE for organizing that great opportunity.
- Manitoba noted that it has an international education strategy which focuses on internationalization and also on two-way student mobility. The province’s tier 1 priority markets are India, Mexico, China and Brazil.
- The Manitoba Council for International Education (MCIE) is going to be involved in a number of events in China and in Mexico. Three of their members, the University of Manitoba, the University of Winnipeg and Red River College, recently opened an office in China. This initiative was funded in part by the three institutions and by the International Education branch of the province of Manitoba. The council was also very proud to announce that as of April 1st, the province of Manitoba will be providing health insurance to international students.
- The Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) noted that out of every 100 students in any given school they have an average of 30 different countries represented. This year they have started organizing their own fairs and going to non-traditional markets for recruitment. The association has gone to 5 different countries this year as well as attending fairs organized by others, as they try to pursue non-traditional markets.
- NAFSA will be held in Houston next year, the dates are May 27th to June 1st, the reception will be held on Wednesday, May 30th. Participation is encouraged and more details on the event will be shared as they are made available.
- Newfoundland and Labrador has gone through some restructuring following the provincial elections. Many changes have occurred across many departments, and the province’s position on international education is currently being re-visited.
- Alberta is putting together an action plan, following the frame-work release in 2009, and noted that implementation will be coming soon. The province is currently in India in a cross divisional effort working on education, innovation and technology commercialization. Last year, the provincial government released an Asia strategy which is currently in progress. There is continuation for the Campus Alberta Grant for International Learning (CAGFIL) which is currently taking place and sends between 700 and 1000 students abroad each year.
- Languages Canada reminded attendees that if we put language first, Canada as a destination for international students has a greater chance of succeeding.
- CREPUQ adopted an action plan for 2010-2013 last year which they are currently implementing. Quebec universities are also reviewing the provincial government of Quebec’s policy on international student recruitment, particularly in the development of new markets. Despite this, they are pursuing their collective activities in francophone markets, Brazil, the Maghreb region and are looking at Asia as a potential market for development as well as Eastern Europe. It was also mentioned that universities in Quebec have long understood that joining together has an impact and they hope to now adopt a similar strategy with regards to Canada’s strategy in international education promotion.
- The Association des universities de la francophonie canadienne (AUFC) intends to position itself in the future in order to welcome more international students. Their specialty is learning in bilingual environments and they look forward to attending NEMR in the future.
- WUSC is looking forward to providing input in the consultative process for the Advisory Panel and invites attendees to check-out their new re-vamped website: www.wusc.ca.
- AUCC and the Canadian Consortium for International Education Marketing are looking forward to participate in the consultation process carried out by the Advisory Panel and are even more eager to learn of the Panel’s resulting recommendations.
- The Canadian eLearning Enterprise Alliance (CeLEA) is proud to be celebrating their 10 year anniversary. They recently conducted a survey of their 358 members and found that distance education is thriving, most results showed double digit growth, both in the credited and non-credited areas. CeLEA has made it their mission in the next 10 years to work more closely with local associations and universities to further develop distance education.
- CBIE attended the ICEF Berlin fair this fall and shared a table with DFAIT, a partnership they found to be very effective. CBIE hopes to see everyone at their annual conference, starting on Monday November 21st, following the Canada-Arab Forum on November 20th. For those looking for more information on Canada’s international education strategy, CBIE will be releasing several pieces of new research, including membership strategy, a new website and a document focused on scholarships, both in-bound and out-bound. CBIE thanked DFAIT for their financial support in helping them produce their new research material.
After conducting the “tour de table”, Ms. Poulin proposed that NEMR minutes would report only on key decisions, rather than a verbatim account of events, to allow for timely distribution. This was approved by all members without objections.
