Justin Trudeau’s Education Policy for International Students

As rightly said education is the key to success. Being one of the basic human rights, education is important for the gain of knowledge, improving the standards of living, socio-economic status of people, the transformation of the person inside-out, development of skills, personality, attitude, discipline, and various other things. From getting a good job of having a good public life education plays a very important role. For the development of the country and betterment of the world, quality education is a must. Besides all this, education means to share and spread knowledge among those who don’t know. Keeping this in mind the Canadian government has come with new education policies for international students looking to the demand of Canadian universities all over the world. Being an attractive educational destination, this policy has been welcomed by students all over due to its high benefits for them.

The aim of the policy

International education is an essential pillar of every country’s long-term competitiveness. Canadians who study abroad gain exposure to new cultures and ideas, stimulating innovation and developing important cross-cultural competencies. Students from abroad who study in Canada bring those same benefits to their shores. If they choose to immigrate to Canada, they contribute to Canada’s economic success. Those who choose to return to their countries become life-long ambassadors for Canada and for the Canadian values. This shows the importance of education for all the students mainly those coming from other countries. Hence the aim of the new policy, building on success is:

Encourage students to gain new skills through study and work abroad opportunities in key global markets.
Diversify the countries from which international students come to Canada, as well as their fields, levels of study, and location of study within Canada.
Increase the support for Canadian education sector institutions to help grow their export services and explore new opportunities abroad.

Facilities of the policy

One of the major problems faced by students while applying for universities abroad is the visa approval. The new policy introduces student Direct Stream (SDS), which allows students who submit applications electronically and “meet additional up-front requirements” to access faster visa processing times. The SDS is currently available to students from China, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and was recently expanded to include Pakistan. Under the new strategy, SDS will be expanded to additional markets through 2024.
A large percentage of students in Canada are from China and India. With an increase in the number of students coming from other countries to Canada for education, it has come up with a new change in its budget. Part of the already existing budget – CDN$24.1 million over five years and CDN$5.4 million ongoing – it is directed to a new digital marketing effort aimed at prospective students from several priority targets: Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, Turkey, France, and Ukraine.

Scholarships come as a boon to those from the economically weaker background. With its various scholarship programs to top universities the policy encourages students with talent to be provided good quality education irrespective of their financial background.

Justin Trudeau’s role in this policy

Although never an academic, like his predecessors Justin Trudeau the prime minister of Canada has a history of working in education. He was a school teacher for several years, which he claims he was driven to do in order to have a “positive influence in the world”, and he has long placed education high on his political agenda.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party has centred “immigration” in several of their party goals, with particular emphasis on encouraging immigration of skilled workers, keeping families together through changes to sponsorship.

Changes made by the Liberals to the Canadian Experience Class have made it easier for international students’ transition to permanent resident status after studying in Canada by receiving more CRS points for Canadian education and work experience.

The Liberals plan to attract more international students by expanding its presence overseas in an effort to boost economic benefits that already amounts to billions per year. According to Federal analysis, the economic effects of foreign students nearly doubled between 2010 and 2016, when they reached a total of $15.5 billion in Canada for everything from tuition fees to rent and groceries.

With these new policies, the number of students approaching Canada for higher education is sure to increase thus making it one of the best global destinations for education.

What we can expect in the future?

Every International students who have in the past and/or as at today completed a 2 years college degree or a University degree in Canada and who hasn’t obtained a PR status yet or is having issues obtaining the PR, should be allowed to fill out a form stating when they graduated and be given the automatic PR status without question (unless a criminal case is levied or pending against such a person).
Every International student upon completion of a 2 years college degree or a University degree in Canada should automatically receive a PR status unless such a student voluntarily decides not to pursue that privilege. Such students upon their graduation should be given one year to accept the PR status, which if not claimed by the students can then be voided and such students can apply through other routes when they finally decide to pursue a Canadian PR.

Conclusion

Education is the most important factor in one’s life to decide how his/her career is shaped. Finishing one’s bachelor’s degree is not enough anymore in this competitive world where the industry is looking for more knowledge and experience among the younger generation. This is where the higher studies come into the picture giving quality education and hands-on session on various projects. Higher studies like doing masters abroad hold a better value when one applies for international companies and plan to settle abroad. New education policy for the international students brought into picture by the prime minister of the country there are now with more facilities and provisions provided to students who come from other countries to study there.