When 25 Canadian university presidents met on Parliament Hill Jan. 31 to talk with MPs and civil servants, the conversation quickly turned to why so few Canadian students study abroad.
Just under three per cent of university students embarked on international academic exchanges, according to a study released by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) in 2007.
“One of the reasons people go to university is to learn skills they will use later on in their careers,” said Gail Bowkett, the assistant director of international relations of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). “Employers are now looking for people with global experience,”
The AUCC represents 95 colleges and universities in Canada.
International study offers huge benefits for university students, Bowkett said.
“It’s a kind of experience that changes your life,” she said. “It changes how you look at the world. It changes how you look at your place in the world.”
Bowkett said she think the costs are probably the biggest reason why students stay at home.
“There also might be a lack of awareness about all the different opportunities,” she added.
Most universities have dozens of partnerships with schools in other countries, but Bowkett said students never hear about them.
Canadian students don’t study abroad as often as students from other countries do, according to Bowkett, who added the federal government is working with AUCC on an advisory panel to develop an international education strategy for Canada.
“One of the messages we have carried forward is the importance of providing international learning experiences to Canadian students,” she said.
As for her own personal experiences, Bowkett said she went on exchanges to the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and the former Soviet Union when she was a student.
“These trips altered my career path,” she said. “I’ve been working internationally for basically my whole career because of these experiences.”
Hillary Lutes is a third-year journalism student at Carleton who is currently on a full-year exchange in Utrecht, Netherlands. She said she found her first semester disappointing and less challenging than Carleton’s courses.
“Up until the beginning of the journalism program in second semester, I would have told other students to take time off and travel and forget the exchange,” Lutes said. “I felt like I was wasting time in disorganized, useless classes, when I could have been out seeing the city and meeting new people.”
Her second semester classes, however, have been more organized and she said she has high hopes for the rest of her stay in Utrecht.
“I’ll be taking a three-week reporting trip to another country, which is something I wouldn’t get to experience through regular classes at Carleton,” Lutes said.
“Even with the difficulties of European education, my exchange has been amazing,” Lutes said. “I’ve met so many people from around the world, discovered Dutch pancakes and cheese, and learned how to ride a bike in all kinds of weather [while] wearing a skirt.”
