Canada's mix

Ken Gardner from Vancouver English Centre in Vancouver, BC, also reports a positive 12 months. “Our numbers have increased by approximately 15 per cent over the previous year,” he says, adding that they have recently increased their marketing budget and while some student markets, such as Korea, have declined, “they have been replaced by other students from Latin America and the Middle East”.

Other schools, however, relate less positive experiences, with George Jasper at the Language Repair Shop in Vancouver, BC reporting that student numbers at the school are “down 10 per cent” on the previous year, largely due to “overseas competition”. Gary Gervais from Heartland International English School in Winnipeg, MN, notes that while Mexico has been performing well recently, overall, “the strength of the Canadian dollar has had a negative impact on enrolments”.

With such diverse factors influencing the market in Canada, it is difficult to highlight unilateral trends. However, Korea and Japan remain key student markets while most schools have noted increased interest from new markets – largely South America and the Middle East, which have been performing well in the last 12 months. “Brazil has exploded as have other markets such as Spain and Saudi Arabia,” says Stille. “Canada as an educational destination has received increasing attention in Brazil and the problems with obtaining US visas have helped... Canada.” He adds,“Saudi Arabians also seem to be shifting away from the USA towards Canada.”

Increasing Canada’s profile as a study destination is a priority for the marketing departments of individual schools, but, until recently, Canada’s government has been slow to follow the lead of rival destinations such as Australia and the UK and develop an international student recruitment strategy. However, developments such as a welcome change to work rights for full-time international students (see left) and attention to quality standards herald an ongoing change in attitude towards this lucrative industry, and provincial governments have also been increasingly active in marketing their educational opportunities overseas.

“The Ontario government, specifically the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, is making a great commitment and effort in helping the recruitment efforts of post-secondary institutions,” says Helen Chadwick from St Lawrence College in Kingston, ONT. “They have committed resources towards show attendance, website development and the creation of collateral materials.”

In the absence of a national recruitment strategy, however, many private language schools are relying on their own marketing efforts, and keeping a continuing eye on developing new courses, to improve enrolment figures and tap into new markets. Janice Ferguson from Mount Royal College in Calgary, AB, says that the college is to start offering Business English certificate courses at the end of this year, while Barbara Yates from Queens University in Kingston, ONT, says that have also acknowledged an increased demand for work-related language courses through the development of their 13-week Business internship programme.

An increased interest among students for language courses that prepare them for further study in the tertiary sector is also a trend noted by Christine Brassard at College Platon in Montreal, QB, who notes, “With more students coming to do the Toefl exam we have incorporated some Toefl listening comprehension and vocabulary building into the higher [course] levels.”

Brassard underlines that continued marketing efforts are important for ensuring stable student numbers. “I think that attending student fairs regularly and keeping in close contact with our agents helps to promote the school,” she says. In Nova Scotia, Christine Wall from East Coast School of Languages (ECSL) in Halifax, NS, adds, “We hope to draw students from new markets like Europe as a follow-up to fairs ECSL participated in and will participate in.”

Work permits for full-time students

One of the most significant events to occur in Canada’s international education industry over the last 12 months was the introduction of a nationwide system allowing full-time international students studying for more than six months at tertiary institutions in Canada the chance to work off-campus for up to 20 hours a week (see Education Travel Magazine, March 2006, page 53).

This development puts Canada in line with many other popular study destinations, and although the rule is currently not applicable to language students, many in the industry believe the change will have a positive effect across all sectors.

“I think the off-campus work permit [rule] will continue to drive up enrolments in academic and career programmes,” says Nadina Dodd from Vancouver Community College International in Vancouver, BC, who adds that some of their student applications for permits have already been successful. “These programmes also feed into our ESL programmes when students need to do a bit of English upgrading so we may also see a slight increase in ESL [enrolments].”

English language students with long-term study plans will also benefit. Mark Herringer from the international recruitment office at Malaspina University College in Nanaimo, BC, says, “It has positively affected our retention rates and will positively impact on our recruitment as word-of-mouth gets out that part-time jobs are plentiful in most locations in Canada.”