IMAGINE: Canada as a leader in international education. How can Canada benefit from the Australian experience?

Hosting international students has long been admired as one of the hallmarks of internationalization. The two major formative strands of internationalization in Canadian universities are development cooperation and international students. With reduced public funding for higher education, institutions are aggressively recruiting international students to generate additional revenue. Canada is equally interested in offering incentives for international students to stay in the country as immigrants after completing their studies. In its 2011 budget, the Canadian federal government earmarked funding for an international education strategy and, in 2010, funded Edu-Canada—the marketing unit within the Department of Education and Foreign Affairs (DFAIT)—to develop an official Canadian brand to boost educational marketing, IMAGINE: Education in/au Canada. This model emulates the Australian one, which rapidly capitalized on the recruitment of international students and became an international success story. Given current Canadian higher education policy trends, this paper will address the cautionary lessons that can be drawn from the Australian case.  Accueillir des étudiants étrangers a longtemps été considéré comme l’une des caractéristiques principales de l’internationalisation. On considère en effet que les deux principales lignées formatrices de l’internationalisation parmi les universités canadiennes sont l’accueil d’étudiants étrangers et la coopération pour le développement. Le financement public de l’enseignement supérieur s’étant amoindri, les gouvernements et les établissements d’enseignement d’autres pays recrutent énergiquement les étudiants étrangers dans l’espoir de produire des revenus supplémentaires. Le Canada est tout aussi intéressé à présenter des mesures incitatives aux étudiants étrangers afin qu’ils immigrent au pays. En effet, dans son budget de 2011, le gouvernement fédéral du Canada attribuait des fonds à une stratégie d’enseignement internationale un an après avoir fondé Edu-Canada, un service de marketing au sein du ministère de l’Éducation et de celui des Affaires étrangères et du Commerce international. L’objectif d’Edu-Canada est de créer une image de marque canadienne officielle, aujourd’hui baptisée IMAGINE: Education au/in Canada, pour relancer le marketing de l’enseignement. Ce faisant, le Canada imite l’Australie, l’un des premiers pays occidentaux à rapidement tirer profit du recrutement d’étudiants étrangers pour en faire une réussite. Devant les tendances politiques actuelles en enseignement supérieur au Canada, cet article présente les leçons de prudence à tirer du cas de l’Australie

A Comparative Analysis of K-12 International Education Policies of Ontario and Manitoba

This paper utilizes critical policy analysis framework to examine provincial policy documents in K-12 international education. Adopting Ball’s (1994) three policy contexts framework – 1) the context of influence; 2) the context of policy text production; and 3) the context of practice - this paper provides a comparative analysis of the international education policies of Ontario and Manitoba. The paper shows that policy documents are not simply linear government directives but they are rather processes driven by local stakeholders including schools, school boards, non-government organizations and educational administrators.Through this comparison, informed by document analysis and stakeholder interviews, we provide an understanding of what factors have led to K-12 international education impetus, and discuss the potential outcomes in terms of (under) privileging of certain values, its effects on (in) equity, and its long-term implications for a publically funded educational system in Canada

International Students as ‘Ideal Immigrants’ in Canada: A disconnect between policy makers’ assumptions and the lived experiences of international students

Recent policy changes in Canada highlight the strategic role International Students (IS) in the country’s economic development and future prosperity. With the release of Canada’s first international education strategy, the federal government has intimately tied international education to the domestic economy by attracting and retaining skilled workers to prepare Canada for the global market place. IS are particularly desirable candidates for permanent residency because their Canadian credentials, proficiency in at least one official language, and their relevant Canadian work experience is assumed to allow them to integrate more easily into the labour force upon graduation. Through 11 focus groups with 48 IS from two post-secondary institutions in the province of Ontario, we explored the adjustment of IS as they adapt to Canada and transition from student to worker. Thematic analysis suggests a disconnect between policy makers’ assumptions and the lived experiences of IS in Canada. Specifically, we find that IS’ integration into Canadian society into the domestic labour market is hindered by adjustment difficulties pertaining to language abilities, poor connectedness to host communities, and perceived employer discrimination against IS. We offer policy recommendations for how international education can better prepare IS for the Canadian labour market

Reconceiving International Education: Theorizing Limits and Possibilities for Transcultural Learning

This multi-voiced paper explores the micro-level dimensions of human learning and becoming from transcultural encounters, lessons and/or curriculum under heightened transnationalism. It posits that mainstream approaches to conceptualizing the ‘education’ of international education lack sufficient theorization of difference, sociality, history and learning in trans-local spaces and suggests that there are expanding networks of transcultural engagements to be examined under the umbrella of international education. To explore this reconceived pedagogical landscape of international education three specific cases are presented: an auto-ethnographic reflection on coming into and making sense of one’s international experience, a conceptual framing of internationalizing preservice education curriculum and a qualitative analysis of the pedagogical impacts of undergraduates’ international internships. Each case illustrates the complexities, possibilities and challenges of (framing) learning and becoming in sites of transcultural engagement

HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS AND THE CHARGING OF TUITION FEES: PERSPECTIVES AND PERCEPTIONS IN BRAZIL, CANADA AND CHINA

This study aims to understand the perceptions of the charging of tuition fees in Canada and China and the perspectives of this practice in Brazil, which is a country where society requires access to quality higher education, but which faces large budgetary constraints on its public funding. To understand these questions, a qualitative exploratory multi-case study was conducted with government officials, specialists in higher education, and student leadership from all three countries, from 13 semi-structured interviews and 27 responses to an unstructured questionnaire, in order to clarify a subject still paradigmatic in the scope of Brazilian public higher education. In conclusion to this analysis, and considering the benefits provided by the Canadian and Chinese participants, it is suggested to Brazil to carry out a reflection on this subject. This reflection is necessary, especially if the need to increase the financial support to these institutions is proven and this cannot be done because of the financial availability. This initiative would aim to boost public higher education institutions through greater financial availability and democratize access and permanence, as it would have more resources to invest in assisting students from underrepresented groups participating in the system

International Education in a World of New Geopolitics: A Comparative Study of US and Canada

This paper examines how international education (IE) as a tool of government foreign policy is challenged in an era of new geopolitics, where China’s growing ambitions have increased rivalry with the West. It compares U.S. and Canada as cases first, by examining rationales and approaches to IE in both countries, second, IE relations with China before conflict and third, current controversies and government policy responses to IE relations with China. The paper concludes identifying contextual factors that shape each country’s engagement with IE, but suggests that moving forward, the future of IE in a world of new geopolitics is likely to be far more complex and conflictual

The Editorial

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