International Students in Canadian Universities, 2004/2005 to 2013/2014
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Catalogue no. 81-599-X – No. 11 ISSN 1709-8653 ISBN 978-0-660-06314-0 Education Indicators in Canada: Fact Sheet International students in Canadian Universities, 2004/2005 to 2013/2014 Release date: October 20, 2016 How to obtain more information For information about this product or the wide range of services and data available from Statistics Canada, visit our website, www.statcan.gc.ca. You can also contact us by email at [email protected] telephone, from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the following toll-free numbers: • Statistical Information Service 1-800-263-1136 • National telecommunications device for the hearing impaired 1-800-363-7629 • Fax line 1-877-287-4369 Depository Services Program • Inquiries line 1-800-635-7943 • Fax line 1-800-565-7757 Standards of service to the public Standard table symbols Statistics Canada is committed to serving its clients in a prompt, The following symbols are used in Statistics Canada reliable and courteous manner. 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Accurate and timely statistical information could not F too unreliable to be published be produced without their continued co-operation and goodwill. * significantly different from reference category (p < 0.05) Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada © Minister of Industry, 2016 All rights reserved. Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement. An HTML version is also available. Cette publication est aussi disponible en français. International students in Canadian Universities, 2004/2005 to 2013/2014 Education Indicators in Canada: Fact Sheet October 2016 International students in Canadian Universities, 2004/2005 to 2013/20141 Introduction Countries compete in order to attract international students for a number of reasons. From a broader social perspective, “international students strengthen Canada’s schools, universities, and colleges, as well as the Canadian communities in which they study and live, and they contribute to the quality of the educational experiences of all students in Canada.”2Provincial education ministries of higher education also seek out international students for the diversity that international students bring to postsecondary campuses. For example, the British Columbia International Education Strategy notes that this diversity “helps make B.C. more globally minded and builds better international connections”3. From an economic perspective, the arrival of international students on Canadian campuses can represent a flow of highly skilled talent that can help ease domestic skills shortages not filled by the native-born population4. A recent study notes that of the cohort of international students who came to Canada to study during the 1990s and early 2000s, 20% to 27% obtained permanent resident status in the 10 years after receiving their first study permit5. Thus, a substantial proportion of these students come to study, but eventually choose to make Canada their home. Finally, international students provide an additional source of revenue for postsecondary institutions, notably from higher international tuition rates. The most recent available data show that international students comprise a growing proportion of the Canadian university student population accounting for eleven percent of students at Canadian universities in 2013-2014, up from seven percent in 2004-2005. Between 2004-2005 and 2013-2014, the total number of international students enrolled in Canadian universities almost doubled, from 66,000 to 124,000 students (see Chart 1). To put this growth in perspective, the international student population at Canadian universities grew 88% between 2004-2005 and 2013-2014, while the comparable growth rate for Canadian students was 22%. This fact sheet provides a portrait of international students in Canadian universities between 2004-2005 and 2013- 2014, where they were studying in Canada, where they came from and in what fields they were studying. 1 Enrolments are based on students enrolled in the postsecondary institutions at the time of the fall snapshot date, that is, a single date chosen by the institution which falls from September 30th to December 1st of the reference year. Therefore students who are not enrolled during this time period are excluded and enrolment totals do not represent a full academic year. For more information please see the Postsecondary Student Information System Integrated Meta Database webpage. 2 Council of the Ministers of Education, Canada. 2011. “Bringing Education in Canada to the World, Bringing the World to Canada: An International Education Marketing Action Plan for Provinces and Territories.” Online publication of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. 3 Ministry of Advanced Education, British Columbia. 2012. “British Columbia’s International Education Strategy.” Online publication of the Ministry of Advanced Education, British Columbia. Online publication of the Ministry of Advanced Education, British Columbia. 4 International students: Brains without borders. The Economist. January 30, 2016. http://www.economist.com/node/21689540/print 5 Lu, Yuqian and Feng Hou. 2015. “International students who become permanent residents in Canada”. Insights on Canadian Society. December. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 75-006-X. Statistics Canada – Catalogue No. 81-599-X 3 International students in Canadian Universities, 2004/2005 to 2013/2014 Chart 1 Number and percentage of international students in all university programs, Canada, 2004-2005 to 2013-2014 percentage of international students number of international students 12 140,000 120,000 10 100,000 8 80,000 6 60,000 4 40,000 2 20,000 0 0 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 Number of international students Percentage of International Students Source: Statistics Canada, Post-secondary Student Information System (PSIS), 2004-2005 to 2013-2014. Definitions International students are defined as those who left their country of origin and moved to Canada for the purpose of study. In Canada, the concept of “international students” includes non-permanent residents, such as those with a study permit. It also includes those enrolled in a Canadian program from a Canadian institution that is not located in Canada (also known as “offshore students”) as well as non-Canadian students studying via the Internet. The population studied in this report includes students enrolled in Canadian universities in Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral programs or their equivalents (ISCED levels 6, 7, and 8). While other kinds of programs are also delivered at universities, they are not part of this analysis. Canada in comparison with other Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries Relative to other countries, in the 2012-20136 school year Canada ranked slightly higher than the OECD average for international students as a proportion of all students for all three levels of study (see Chart 2). In relation to other primarily English speaking countries, Canada has hosted a lower proportion of international students than Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, but a higher one than Ireland and the United States. In all of the countries shown in Chart 2, international students made up a progressively increasing percentage of all enrolments from Bachelor’s to Master’s to Doctoral levels, except for Australia, where the percentage of international Master’s students exceeded that for Doctoral students. 6 This is the most recent year available for international comparison from: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 2015. Education at a Glance 2015: OECD Indicators. Note that in EAG the year 2012-2013 is referenced as 2013. 4 Statistics Canada – Catalogue No. 81-599-X International students in Canadian Universities, 2004/2005 to 2013/2014 Chart 2 Proportion of international students, by program level, selected OECD countries, 2012-2013 percent 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Australia United Kingdom New Zealand Canada OECD average Ireland United States Bachelor's level Master's level Doctoral level Note: In order to show the same reference year (2012-2013), values for Canada come directly from the Postsecondary Student Information System. Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Education at a Glance 2015: OECD Indicators and Statistics Canada, Postsecondary Student Information System, 2012-2013. Another way to compare Canada to other OECD countries in terms of hosting international students is to look at Canada’s share of