In the last decade, Saskatchewan has seen a dramatic shift in which student enrolment has been on the rise. To aid this growing trend, the provincial government proclaimed the week of Nov 17-21 as International Education Week.
“International Education Week is really about the Saskatchewan government – and others who choose to proclaim it – essentially dedicating awareness about the importance of the week,” said Tammy Bloor Cavers, assistant deputy minister of sector relations and student services for the Ministry of Advanced Education. “It’s to celebrate cultural diversity and global engagement.”
By bringing awareness to this week, the provincial government is hoping to increase international education via students coming from abroad to study in Saskatchewan and vice versa. These exchange students help improve the relationship between both the provincial post-secondary institutions and those in other countries.
“The Saskatchewan Plan for Growth includes goals to increase the number of international students, encourage the study of international languages, and build stronger partnerships with international post-secondary institutions to build Saskatchewan’s future,” said a recent government news release.
As it was mentioned in Saskatchewan’s Plan for Growth, the province is aiming to increase the number of international students in the province by 50 per cent by 2020. It will also be encouraging the study of international languages in business schools. Lastly, it will be one of the ways in which the province meets its goal of 65,000 more people in the work force by 2020.
As of Nov. 24, the provincial government officially announced three goals that will be part of its International Education Strategy. Those goals included increasing global engagement, bringing more international students to the province, and increasing the number and value of global research projects.
“We think that we have the opportunity to offer a lot more on the research side and we want to work with industries to develop these projects,” said Kevin Doherty, Minister of Advanced Education. “We’re still in the stages of getting that set up and developing action plans.”
In order to achieve these goals, an international education council will be set up to improve collaboration between post-secondary institutions, the provincial government, and industry representatives. Awareness of these initiatives and Saskatchewan’s potential will be broadcast through a targeted marketing strategy.
“The province is welcoming international students from around the world to come to Saskatchewan,” said Bloor Cavers. “Through that, there are multiple benefits to people here in terms of their global perspectives that they can bring to communities.”
According to Bloor Cavers, jobs in the future are going to require a higher skill level and so this week is a means of encouraging learners from around the world to take advantage of the opportunities in the province. To that effect, there’s federal legislation that enables immigration to Canada following post-secondary studies.
“International students provide a number of not only global perspectives, but they also provide upward of $100 million to our economy each year,” said Bloor Cavers.
The bulk of this money generally comes from tuition fees (which are generally higher than domestic fees), but also comes from any goods and services they purchase within a community.
To further support this exchange of students, there will be provincial legislation effective June 1 that makes each province responsible for having policies or regulations in place that determine how to designate institutions that have international students. This means that institutions will have standardized supports in place for international students.
“Oftentimes, it’s really up to international learners to consider where they want to study … some of the top sourced countries that students typically come from are India, China, and Saudi Arabia,” said Bloor Cavers. “Those countries for sure we’ve had great success so far … and Asian countries are important to focus on because of trade activity. We would expand to those countries and beyond for sure.”
Bloor Cavers says that institutions are really the ones that help to establish those partnerships; the government can only support them. For example, the provincial government recently instituted the International Future Scholarship, which provides funding for students wanting to study abroad.
“Saskatchewan Polytechnic recognizes the role international students play in helping to meet Saskatchewan’s future labour market needs,” said Dr. Larry Rosia, president and CEO of Saskatchewan Polytechnic, in the same news release. “The demand for high-quality technical education is on the rise, and we are recruiting these students more actively knowing that once they have attained Canadian academic credentials, most will chose to establish permanent roots in this province.”
“If you think about attracting high calibre students, research and innovation is critical,” said Bloor Cavers. “Part of the reason this is becoming more important is to strengthen the province’s business and cultural expertise globally.”
The only way to encourage this growth is for all of Saskatchewan to get involved.
“People who train locally tend to stay,” said Bloor Cavers. “Any ability to tap into those high skill sets is certainly a positive for Saskatchewan and its economy.”
