On Campus

Education ministers unveil national brand to attract international students

Fredericton meeting addresses international recruitment, literacy

Provincial education ministers are coming together under one national brand in a bid to attract more foreign students to study and possibly stay in Canada.

The brand — a stylized red maple leaf with a bilingual slogan that says “Imagine Education in Canada” — was revealed Monday at a meeting of education ministers in Fredericton.

New Brunswick Education Minister Kelly Lamrock said in a country like China, it doesn’t make sense to try to pitch individual provinces. “The Canadian brand is strong because people know Canada as a country for welcoming people of diverse backgrounds,” he said. “They also know Canada as … a place of high quality education.”

When asked why the ministers aren’t concentrating on improving test scores in Canada before attracting foreign students, Lamrock said they are doing both.

He told reporters that attracting more foreign students will also improve the learning environment for Canadian students. “Making sure that our schools and places of learning are as diverse as the world where graduates will enter is important,” said Lamrock. “Every campus that welcomes international students becomes itself a place where more ideas, more opinions, more diverse thoughts can be heard and understood by others, and teaches all of us about the world around us.”

The ministers are meeting for two days in the city and are also expected to discuss a national strategy to improve literacy.

-with a report from CP 

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