A recent
study has found that the growth rate of the number of Indian students attending
institutions in Canada, USA, UK, Australia, and New Zealand has surpassed that
of China. 85% of the total outbound student mobility is in these 5 countries.
The number of Chinese students attending institutes in the five countries grew
by 8% between 2013 and 2014, while the number of Indian students grew by over
10%. However, the current number of total Chinese students attending school study in abroad is more than double
that of India. The report also notes that Indian students’ interest in Canada
has grown, because of the popularity of Canadian community colleges, practical
and affordable education and possibly because of negative attitudes toward
Australia.
Federal
Resources required to aid International Student Applications
Canadian
officials are finding it difficult to keep up with the increasing demand from
international study visa, leading to
waiting times that are weeks longer than those in Britain or the United States,
and reducing the program’s competitiveness. The lengthy timelines are contained
in a report from Citizenship and ImmigrationCanada (CIC), obtained by The Globe and Mail through freedom of information
legislation. While the federal government wants to double the number of
students from abroad by 2022, it has not provided sufficient resources to
process the increased numbers, the report says. CIC blames this “lack of
coordination” between federal departments for an increase of 30 per cent in
processing times for study, permits and a doubling of the time for temporary
resident visas. Colleges and universities say the government must address the
gaps in its international student strategy. “The question of visa processing
times is a critical one in terms of attracting top students. If our competitors
are able to turn around visas faster, all the marketing efforts, all the
recruitment efforts, all the offers of scholarships fail,” said Paul Davidson,
president of Universities Canada.
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