Tuesday, September 28, 1999

UNIVERSITIES and colleges are learning to market their campuses and expertise abroad with help from the public and private sectors.

The global shift toward knowledge-based economies from resource-based has created an international demand for education and training services, and that has meant opportunities for Canada. This trend toward selling knowledge and technology has been gaining momentum over the past decade, and successful initiatives have had a significant impact on the Canadian economy.

By promoting their campuses and expertise globally, colleges and universities have succeeded in putting sales of education and training on the top-five list of Canadian exports, according to Statistics Canada.

The Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) is actively selling Canada's community college expertise in 75 countries, according to Gerry Brown, ACCC president. "The perception of our education system is very good. Many countries look to Canada's model of education, kindergarten to [Grade] 12, to university with the addition of community college and technical training being very appealing," Brown said.

Currently, Canada's marketing plan is based on two tracks: recruiting international students and exporting Canadian educational products and expertise abroad, said Robert Best, director of government relations and student affairs at the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

According to Best, both ACCC and AUCC work with the federal government's Canadian International Development Agency to match up institutions with countries, identify their needs and determine who could best provide the training or expertise that country is looking for. ACCC, Brown said, also works closely with the Canadian Education Centre Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, to promote Canada as a destination for international students, as well as a source of international corporate and group training and Canadian distance education programs.

In 1997-98, there were 26,425 international students, or about 4 per cent of total university enrolment, with almost half of those attending graduate programs, according to AUCC.

"Our preliminary data indicates a further 5-per-cent increase in international students for 1998-99, reported Best.

The number of international students studying at all levels has increased to 99,300 from 92,300 between 1991 and 1997, according to figures from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Those numbers include primary, secondary, postsecondary, trade certificate, other studies and interns and residents, with the majority coming from South Korea, Japan, United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan.