Canadian universities see India as land of opportunity

OTTAWA - India is home to an increasing share of the planet’s under-25 population, and Canadian universities, some of which are chronically short of students and funds, have realized that they need to tap into that market of opportunity.

According to the Globe and Mail, Canadian schools, which have recruited heavily in the past from countries such as China and the United States, are now increasingly targeting India.

The schools’ new interest in India is shared by federal and provincial governments, which see the country’s booming economy as a perfect fit for their trade and innovation agendas.

Since last fall, Prime Minster Stephen Harper and the premiers of Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan have visited India, all with university presidents in tow.

Fresh from that visit, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty made doubling foreign student enrolment in five years a key aim in his Throne Speech.

“There is just a huge demand,” the Premier told The Globe and Mail’s editorial board earlier this year.

He added that increasing foreign enrolment “would hardly become the foundation for a funding model for our universities, but it can be a good supplement.”

Harper and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to encourage the continued development of “synergies” between Canadian and Indian universities on the sidelines of the Toronto G-20 summit.

In a decade, 30 million Indian students are expected to be looking for a post-secondary education - double current enrolment levels - and Indian schools, even with the expected addition of 1,400 more, are unlikely to meet that demand.

Canadian universities, however, are attempting their foray into India’s higher education sector without much knowledge, and are ruminating over how best to make inroads.

The University of Waterloo, the University of Alberta and Concordia University are active in India, as is the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business, among others, through joint projects.

Many campus leaders have also mounted their own fact-finding missions. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada is aiming to co-ordinate efforts - and gain more profile with Indian officials and media - by organizing a tour of the vast country this fall for a group of 15 Canadian university presidents. (ANI)