INT'L STUDENT IN CANADA REACHES RECORD HIGH

Canada had another strong year of growth in 2019

• Canada’s foreign enrolment reached a record high of 642,480 last year
• India and, to a lesser extent, a number of key emerging markets, contributed nearly all of that year-over-year growth
• While China remains a key sending market for Canada, Chinese numbers, in contrast, were essentially flat between 2018 and 2019

New data shows that Canada is now behind only the US and Australia – and essentially vying with the UK for third place – among the world’s top study destinations.

New Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data shows that the number of international students in Canada grew by 13% year-over-year, making 2019 the fourth year of double-digit growth for the country’s foreign enrolment.

Over the past five years, international student numbers in Canadian institutions and schools have grown by 82% to reach 642,480 as of December 2019. This makes Canada the fastest-growing among the world’s leading study destinations for the period 2014 through 2019.

Of the 74,350 international students added to the country’s enrolment base in 2019, about 65% are from India alone.

The following table highlights the biggest growth stories of the year as well as how much larger each country’s contribution to Canadian enrolments is now compared with 2015.

Canada’s current internationalisation strategy emphasises student market diversification, and this year’s IRCC data might well be evidence of this plan solidifying on Canadian campuses. 

Not coincidentally perhaps, Increased number of countries on the list of countries where students are able to access the Student Direct Stream (SDS), an expanding programme available in selected markets that aims to streamline the application process and speed processing times for Canadian study permits.

It is, from a risk management perspective, a healthy trend that we can see a wider field of emerging markets contributing to the continuing growth for Canada.

On the other hand, the country’s foreign student base continues to rely heavily on Chinese and Indian enrolments.

Together, those two key senders accounted for nearly six in ten foreign students in Canada in 2019, suggesting that the strategy to diversify further remains an important and pressing priority for Canadian educators.