Government officials looking to bolster international education as a pillar of B.C.’s economic development need to make a greater investment in the institutions and staff dealing with the students directly, industry representatives say.
At this year’s summer conference hosted by the British Columbia Council for International Education in Kelowna on June 19, a number of school administrators expressed concern that the current system sees foreign student programs too much as a “budget filler,” which does not bode well for the long-term health of the sector.
School officials such as Langara College vice-president of external development Ajay Patel said major cities like Vancouver have so many international students that the province needs to create a more efficient system, such as directing more applicants to rural schools and offering more support for urban institutions to co-operate on issues of capacity and students’ well-being.
“I think initially, when the [enrolment] numbers were gradually or incrementally increasing, it was an opportunity to fill some budget gaps,” Patel said during a panel at the conference. “But now, we are in a whole different situation, and a lot of reinvestment needs to be made back into the institutions – within the classroom, outside the classroom – with things like mental health, counselling, all those types of things. It’s something we need to be cognitive of because if we just use [international education] to plug budget holes, it’s going to kill [Canada’s] brand across the country.”
In recent years, Ottawa and the B.C. government have both listed attracting more international students as a focal point for their respective economic development platforms, and for good reason. According to a report from Roslyn Kunin and Associates Inc., B.C.’s K-12 and post-secondary institutions housed 130,053 international students as of 2015, up 44% from 2010 levels. Those students spent a combined $3.5 billion in the province on tuition and expenses, contributing $2 billion to the province’s gross domestic product and supporting 29,300 jobs, the report found.
Some observers, however, have criticized B.C.’s rapidly expanding international education sector as a cash grab that takes attention away from local students and fails to ensure the well-being of all students, whether domestic or foreign.
Christa Ovenell, director and principal for Burnaby-based Fraser International College, said that while B.C.’s international education system is the strongest in Canada, it needs to be improved to stay competitive in the global market.
“We are at risk,” Ovenell said, noting that moving students from Vancouver to rural schools could cause problems if those rural schools don’t have the resources to properly help them.
“If we are not professionalizing and helping the staff dealing with these students on a daily basis and ensuring that these staff have the intercultural abilities to deal with students, we are really going to miss the boat,” she said. “I’m shocked sometimes at the lack of international competency in our classrooms, at our registrar’s desks. Sometimes, there’s barely concealed hostility inherent in standardized [tests], in stuff that students see every single day. We can’t allow the distance to come between us and our students.”
More than three-quarters (77%) of all international students in B.C. reside in the Lower Mainland and nearby communities. Vancouver Island (12.5%), the southern Interior (6.5%) and northern B.C. (1.2%) have a dramatically lower proportion. More than a third of the students come from China, with South Korea, India and Japan as the next three most common origin points.
Mike Walkey, managing director of ELS Language Centers, urged patience on all sides in the effort to raise cultural competency among school staff to better serve students and ensure international markets continue to look at B.C. as an academic destination. Walkey added that the situation is improving with each new hire at his school.
“We are always looking for people … open to the fact that we have as much to learn from the students as they do from us, even though they are the ones who chose to come here to learn,” Walkey said. “International students can definitely be demanding in requiring an added level of service, so there’s absolutely a need for patience.”
Another concern for the industry that is keenly felt in Vancouver is the lack of affordable housing options for students, which may stifle further growth if not addressed, he added.
“It’s great if we bring more and more students into the province and into Vancouver, but we are in trouble if they don’t have a place to live,” Walkey said. “The pool of [homestay] host families in Metro Vancouver is becoming smaller and smaller, so these host families are now further and further into the suburbs. It makes travelling time longer for students, and we have to be careful with that.” •
