With the surge of pandemic and lockdown all over the world since 2020, students migrating to different parts of the world was put to halt. Now with the relaxation in restrictions and lock down, students travelling to Canada has bounced back to the normal level.
• Latest surveys have shown proof that international students choosing Canadian educational institutions in the post pandemic year has been more of less the same as it was in the pre pandemic years.
• Students from Latin America and Europe opting Canadian institutions for their higher education has shown a gradual but steady increase when compared to students from China, Vietnam, and South Korea.
• When compared to the number of Canadian study visas issued from 2019 and 2021, we can understand that there isn’t much of a difference and also that the sector is recovering vigorously.
In 2020 with the spread of Covid-19, the students moving for educational purposes to Canada had declined to a level of 17%. But with 2021 things have changed positively for the Canadian educational sector by counterbalancing the 17% decline during 2020. According to new Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data, the student visas issued during 2021 is almost as same as 2019. In 2021 621,565 student visas were issued, which isn’t much less than 2019 with 638,380 issued student visas. Other than the clear-cut decline in Chinese students approaching Canada for educational purposes, there are detailed and precise data showing that Canadian educational system is continuously progressing.
Data’s show that in 2021, 217410 Indian student visas had been issued by the Canadian government. Canada is regulating their rules and seeking all the possible ways to attract students from all over the world by welcoming and encouraging enrolments from different countries and regions. This can be understood by looking into the data where student visas issue to students from the Philippines improved by 115% in 2021 when compared to the previous year with a total of 15,545, and of Nigerians have increased by 30.2% for a total of 13,745.
Major growth in Canadian educational sector happened with Student Direct System (SDS) programme by the Canadian government for students from Asia, Europe, Africa, and America. This system allows eligible students to access streamlined visa processing, which helps in easy and smooth visa application process. with India the student preferring Canadian educational institutions have only increased within these two years.