In 2008, 95,414 foreign students were enrolled in Canadian universities, nearly double the amount from a decade before, according to statistics from Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
Of those students, the bulk settled in Canada’s major urban centres — one in five in both Toronto and Vancouver, about 12 per cent in Montreal, and another three per cent in each of Ottawa, Edmonton, and Calgary.
Canadian universities are increasingly looking overseas to recruit new students. For instance, in Ottawa one out of every 10 Carleton University undergraduates settling into the new school year is from outside of Canada. For graduate students, the ratio is closer to one in five.
The selling point is Canada’s cost competitiveness compared to similar institutions in the United States,and UK.
