The number of Indian students attending Canadian universities has surged in recent years as the booming population seeks high-quality education and inexpensive costs, the president of the University of Alberta said on Friday.
More than 12,000 post-secondary students from India are expected to attend Canadian universities this year, nearly four times the number that attended Canadian schools in 2008.
As many as 697 students from India studied at the University of Alberta in 2010 – a 311 per cent increase since the 2008 school year.
University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera has been recruiting students from India for years and says the surge of enrollment is due in part to school shortages back home.
"Indian students are looking for opportunities given that there are a large number of Indian students in the age range of 18 to 25," Samarasekera told CTV Canada AM on Friday.
"They are looking for places with both reputation and quality, but value for money. Canada is an extremely sweet spot when you combine all of those."
Samarasekera said that less than 10 per cent of Indian students have a chance to study at home. She said that students have been flooding U.S. universities for years, but have recently turned to Canadian institutions for their high quality and comparably lower cost.
While not all of the students will stay in Canada after graduation, Samarasekera said she envisions the development of a "brain chain," as students who return home or move elsewhere maintain links to the Canadian economy.
"I see brain circulation. Some will stay here, some will eventually go back to India. But given the nature of our economies globally and extreme interconnectedness, many Indian students will work for multi-national companies either owned by Canadians or with links to Canada," Samarasekera said.
Vishal Vaidya, an MBA student and president of the Indian Students Association, says he came to Canada after meeting recruiters in India.
"Most of the Canadian schools are compatible with other schools in North America and England," he told CTV Canada AM. "Another important factor was the diversity of students we have in Canada. That gives Indian students the opportunity to come out and mix with students from a variety of cultures."
Vaidya added that the cold Canadian winters were not as much as a turn-off as some might expect.
"I think it is a misconception that we don't enjoy the winters. Being an Indian it is quite a novel thing and I'm sure a lot of students enjoy the new weather they are exposed to."
