International students are worth billions to the Canadian economy. According to a recent report, they contributed $6.5 billion in 2008, surpassing coal or coniferous lumber exports. The report, commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, found a correlation between increasing numbers of international students and growth in international trade as well as direct international investment in Canada.

But report results have stated that Canada is becoming a less desirable location even as international demand for education is growing. From 1998 to 2003, international student enrolment in universities grew by double digits each year. Since 2005, however, it has grown less quickly than the average enrolment for all students.

As a result, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada is calling on DFAIT to increase spending on marketing Canada as a hot study destination, from $2 million to $20 million.

U of T has 6,563 international undergraduate students, accounting for more than 10 per cent of its undergraduates. The university’s long-term planning “affirms the importance of increasing its national and global presence by recruiting, respectively, more Canadian students from outside the Toronto region and more students from abroad,” according to the Towards 2030 framework document.

In 2002, there were 433 international students admitted to U of T’s arts and science faculty. In 2006, this number had nearly doubled to 860.

While domestic undergrads at U of T pay between $5,000 to $11,000 per year for tuition, international students pay between $19,000 and $25,000.

“When visiting [international] regions we visit high schools, schedule meetings with counsellors, and will at times participate in school fairs,” said David Zutautas, assistant director of student recruitment at U of T.

When asked if U of T has increased its recruitment, Zutautas said, “Not really. We have been active and consistent in our activities.”

What attracts international students to Canada, and U of T in particular, varies.

Miguel Irene, a fourth-year undergrad from Washington, D.C., heard about U of T from recruiters who came to his high school. In his experience, its reputation outside of Canada is nil. “No one has ever heard of U of T,” said Irene. “I mean quite literally, when I say U of T in the States, people think I go to Texas.”

Irene doesn’t mind paying roughly three times what a domestic student would, saying he saves around $4,000-$5,000 when total costs are taken into account. “Plus the exchange rate helps,” he said.

Keton Motta-Freeman, another undergrad, is a Canadian citizen born in England and raised in Italy. Though he chose U of T by a process of elimination—“I didn’t get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, or Oxford”—he maintains that U of T has a good reputation abroad. “Western Europe knows it, the States knows it, Canada knows it,” he said. “It’s known as the best school in Canada.”

Motta-Freeman, who has not experienced U of T recruiting or marketing efforts, thinks they are unnecessary. “It shouldn’t market itself. A university should be a university. It should teach and research, and if it does those things well, then its reputation will get out there.”