Canadian Journal of Higher Education - IMAGINE: Canada as a leader in international education - Volume 43, No. 2 - 2013

Oct 15, 2026

IMAGINE: Canada as a leader in international education examines how Canada can benefit from Australia’s experience in internationalizing higher education. It reviews two formative strands in Canadian universities: development cooperation and international student recruitment, especially amid reduced public funding and the drive to generate revenue. The paper also considers incentives for student migration, linking Canada’s Edu-Canada initiative and the official brand effort to marketing strategy lessons from the Australian model.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages26

Reading Time1 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Hosting international students as internationalization

Background and policy formation in Canada

Development cooperation and the role of ODA

Policy shifts and recruitment dynamics

Budget cuts and renewed attention in the 1980s

Comparison with Australia

Challenges and lessons for Canada

CSSHE SCÉES Canadian Journal of Higher Education Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur Volume 43, No. 2, 2013, pages 1-26 IMAGINE: Canada as a leader in international education. How can Canada benefit from the Australian experience? Roopa Desai Trilokekar and Zainab Kizilbash York University Abstract Hosting international students has long been admired as one of the hallmarksof internationalization. The two major formative strands of internationalization in Canadian universities are development cooperation and international students. With reduced public funding for higher education, institutions are aggressively recruiting international students to generate additional revenue. Canada is equally interested in offering incentives for international students to stay in the country as immigrants after completing their studies. In its 2011 budget, the Canadian federal government earmarked funding for an international education strategy and, in 2010, funded Edu-Canada—the marketing unit within the Department of Education and Foreign Affairs (DFAIT)—to develop an official Canadian brand to boost educational marketing, IMAGINE: Education in/au Canada. This model emulatesthe Australian one, which rapidly capitalized on the recruitment of international students and became an international success story. Given current Canadian higher education policy trends, this paper will address the cautionary lessons that can be drawn from the Australian case. Résumé Accueillir des étudiants étrangers a longtemps été considéré comme l’une des caractéristiques principales de l’internationalisation. On considère en effet que les deux principaleslignées formatrices del’internationalisation parmiles universités canadiennes sont l’accueil d’étudiants étrangers et la coopération pour le développement. Le financement public de l’enseignement supérieur s’étant amoindri, les gouvernements et les établissements d’enseignementd’autres pays recrutent énergiquement les étudiants étrangers dans l’espoir CJHE / RCES Volume 43, No. 2, 2013 IMAGINE: Canada as a Leader / R. D. Trilokekar & Z. Kizilbash 2 de produire des revenus supplémentaires. Le Canada est tout aussi intéresséà présenter des mesures incitatives aux étudiants étrangers afin qu’ilsimmigrent au pays. Eneffet, dans son budget de 2011, legouvernement fédéral du Canada attribuait des fonds à une stratégie d’enseignement internationale un an après avoir fondé Edu-Canada, un service de marketing au sein du ministère de l’Éducation et de celui des Affaires étrangères et du Commerce international. L’objectif d’Edu-Canada est de créer une image de marque canadienne officielle, aujourd’hui baptisée IMAGINE: Education au/in Canada, pour relancer le marketing de l’enseignement. Ce faisant, le Canada imite l’Australie, l’un des premiers pays occidentaux à rapidement tirer profit du recrutement d’étudiants étrangers pour en faire une réussite. Devant les tendances politiques actuelles en enseignement supérieur au Canada, cet article présente les leçons de prudence à tirer du cas de l’Australie. The debate that surrounds what truly comprises the internationalization of higher education is long standing. Hosting international students has always been an important part of internationalization efforts because the value of international students has long revolved around the benefits of broader national and international goals (de Wit, 2002; Cudmore, 2005; Galway, 2000) . Indeed, an internationally diverse campus has been admired as one of the hallmarks of internationalization. However, this movement has increasingly translated into the aggressive recruitment of international students in what has become a competition between several developed and emerging nations. In this paper, we compare the current trends in Canada’s policy approach with the Australian model, which is generally considered to be highly successful. Specifically, we would like to assess what challenges and lessons Canada mi

FAQs

What two strands of internationalization does the paper highlight in Canadian universities?

It identifies development cooperation and international students as the two major formative strands of internationalization in Canadian universities.

How does reduced public funding affect Canadian higher education institutions according to the text?

With reduced public funding, institutions aggressively recruit international students to generate additional revenue.

What is the main comparison between Canada and Australia that the paper focuses on?

The paper compares current Canadian policy trends with the Australian model, assessing the challenges and cautionary lessons Canada might benefit from based on Australia’s experience.

Oct 15, 2026

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