Canada Missing Opportunity in the Booming China Education Market

Abstract:

Educational services are a key and growing sector of the international economy. The training and education of international students in Canada alone has an estimated $4 billion economic impact. Most international students in Canada and elsewhere come from Asia, and especially China, resulting in keen competition for elementary, high school, college and university students from the region. Canada has been a comparatively minor player in this growing sector, despite strong historical ties between China and Canada and the presence of a large Chinese-Canadian community. Canada has not been able to match the strong appeal of American education, particularly at the university level. In comparison to its main competitors, notably Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Canada lacks a coordinated national marketing effort, and has not made a sustained commitment to recruit overseas students. There is, in sharp contrast to the other nations, no “Canadian brand” identity in the Chinese market. While the Government of Canada is constrained by its lack of constitutional authority in the delivery of educational services at home, it has been generally absent from the promotion of Canadian education overseas. Yet at the institutional level Canadian school districts, colleges, universities and private institutions have taken independent and creative steps to enhance their presence in the Chinese market. These range from aggressive recruiting campaigns to the establishment of campuses in China. However, a sharp rise in the number of Chinese university spaces in recent years, a large and growing number of foreign-owned institutions in the country, and strong international competition, is already dampening the flow of new Chinese students to Canada. Without rapid and concerted efforts in China and elsewhere, Canada will forfeit its place in this successful and lucrative service industry. It will also jeopardize Canada’s future ties with Asia.