For the longest time, the United States was the most popular country for international students. However, there is a rising trend in the number of students choosing Canada over the US. According to a recent report from RBC Economics, the number of international students enrolled in post-secondary education in Canada surged from 180,000 in 2007 to 415,000 in 2016 — that’s a 130 percent increase in nine years. Where are the students coming from? China and India.
Chinese and Indian citizens are increasingly choosing to study in Canada, and they in fact dominate the international student population in many Canadian universities. The 132,000 Chinese students studying in Canada make up one-third of all foreign students in Canada — a three-fold increase from a decade ago. The number of students from India grew ten times over the last decade, reaching 80,000 in 2016.
There are many reasons why Canada is becoming so big:
According to the OECD’s “Programme for International Student Assessment”, Canada ranked 7th globally for education performance, above Australia, the U.S. and the U.K.
International student tuition fees in Canada are substantially lower than that of our southern neighbour — it costs an average of $22,000/year to study in Canada, as opposed to $33,000/year to study in America.
Canada has open borders and wants to keep it that way. They are trying to keep international graduates in the country by giving them employment and permanent residency
The open borders are making it easier for students to think about Canada as an alternative education society, especially for students who want to actually live in the country because at the end of the day the name and level of education would be much higher with a degree from the US but yes, immigration after education in the United States is still a little tricky.