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In addition to growing competition, Canadian universities also
have to compete with changes in several developing nations which
are radically expanding educational opportunities within their
own borders and are beginning to recruit or repatriate students
from abroad. For example, China’s higher education system
expanded close to four-fold to almost 27 million students between
1999 and 2007. 19 The very rapid expansion of China’s economy
is fostering educational aspirations and access. Even as China’s
youth cohort (age 20-24) is expected to decline by approximately
25 percent by 2020, plans exist to continue expanding access to
education over the coming decade.
India is also expanding rapidly, growing from 9.4 million students
in 1999 to more than 15 million in 2007. 20 In spite of being one
of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world, India
does not have enough university capacity to meet student demand.
As a result, many Indian students seek university education abroad.
For example, in 2008 more than half (86,000) of the approximately
160,000 Indian students who studied abroad went to the U.S.
Approximately 30,000 registered to study in the U.K. and more
than 27,000 went to Australia. Only about 3,000 came to Canada. 21
Moreover, the Indian Minister of Human Resource Development
recently announced that the Indian central government is looking
to add approximately 30 million more university student places
by 2020. It hopes to progress towards this goal by working with its
private sector and foreign education providers, expanding distance
learning and enlarging the online format of learning.
New recruitment programs in developed nations and the growing
supply of spaces in emerging economies will further intensify
competition for international students. Canada’s leaders 22 across
all education sectors are working together and with government
officials to develop a national strategy to attract more international
students to Canada and to create and enhance our global economic,
diplomatic and cultural ties. This is seen as critical to enabling
Canadian universities to compete more effectively for the best and
brightest international students.
While global demand for education is rising, the costs of meeting
that demand and competing for the best students are also certain
to rise. Moreover, as population growth in Africa and other
developing nations spurs additional growth in international student
demand, the costs of evaluating and assessing student preparedness
and of helping students from these emerging nations adjust to
life in Canada are also likely to increase. These rising costs may
temper the ability of some Canadian universities to maintain their
market share of a rapidly growing international student market.
In addition to attracting international students, Canada has also
been a very attractive destination for immigrants. Recent growth
in immigration is also likely to drive increases in enrolment demand
in the coming decade. Past trends indicate that the immigrant
population is more likely to have a university degree. More than
50 percent of adults immigrating to Canada in the last decade were
university graduates. Given the high value that these newcomers
to Canada place on education, it is quite certain that they and their
children will generate new and growing demands on Canada’s
universities.
For example, in 2008 there were more than 85,000 immigrants
coming to Canada with a university degree from abroad, a threefold
increase from 1990 levels. However, the Census reveals that
recent immigrants to Canada are having a more difficult time deploying
their skills and knowledge in the labour force than previous
immigrants. This may in part be due to the rapid increase in both
the number and share of recent immigrants who have earned
their degrees in developing nations. As a result, their language skills
are inferior to the skills of previous generations of immigrants
who were more frequently from Europe or the United States. These
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Trends in Higher Education | Volume 1. Enrolment | 31