International Students Bring Many Benefits, says BC Minister

Source: Vancouver Sun via Academica

Students who travel to Canada to get a world-class education “also bring a wide range of short- and long-term social, cultural and economic benefits,” writes BC Minister of Advanced Education Andrew Wilkinson. The article describes some of the very first international students who came to BC at the beginning of the 20th century, before discussing the benefits that today’s international students bring to Canada. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of international students, says Wilkinson, is that they pay the full cost of PSE tuition and thus subsidize not only higher education, but K-12 programming for domestic students. Further, international students who stay in Canada after graduation have been shown to fulfill an important role in closing the country’s skills gap. For these reasons and more, Wilkinson concludes, “the benefits add up and are irrefutable whichever way you study the equation.”