Australia has been making headlines in Canada recently, and not necessarily for all the traditional reasons such as our beaches, sunshine or the enormous population of young Ozzies working in Whistler…
No, the talk has all been about the Winter Olympics and the fact that Australia had scored more gold medals than Canada in the first week. Few could understand how this could possibly be the case, when much of Canada has been shivering through a series of polar vortexes bringing large dumps of snow and temperatures down to -30 degrees! Fortunately (for Canada, at least), that national shame has been rectified in Week 2 of the Games.
Come what may, Canadians working in international higher education do think about Australia quite frequently, with a general sense that Australia knows what it’s doing and that we are a number of years “ahead” of Canada in terms of international student mobility and global positioning.
Leaving to one side the national insecurity that comes from sharing a 9,000km border with the USA, there are certainly a number of factors that support this perception amongst Canadian international educators.
Most striking is the fact that there is so little connective tissue between institutions and practitioners across the country. Yes, Australia straddles multiple timezones too, but this is not the principal barrier here. Rather, the lack of a federal mandate for education in this country means that each province and territory (13 of them in total) sets its own rules for higher education and for quality assurance. And this leads to an environment where there is very little rationale for national conversations or collaboration…
Imagine a world where there is no national Department of Education, no TEQSA, no ATEC – and then add in drastically varying levels of engagement with international education by provincial governments. While British Columbia may have its Council for International Education (BCCIE), no such body exists in the province with the largest number of higher education institutions (Ontario). And broader advocacy bodies such as the Council of Ontario Universities appear to have little or no mandate for collective action in relation to global matters.
Beyond this, picture an environment where the national representative body for universities (Universities Canada) is principally Presidential and therefore has no DVC International group and where there is no rationale or incentive for senior international leaders to meet collectively (so no Australian Universities International Directors Forum).
As someone who has recently commenced in a global leadership role in Toronto (and yes, I give you my NOM minus one), this lack of connectivity across the sector is startling. It means that there is a very slim existing framework for connection and collaboration between institutions on international matters. And I believe this leads to a generally more guarded approach to global engagement within Canada’s borders.
But a truly engaged global institution (and indeed higher education sector) is one where the connective tissue is strong – both on campus and externally – so I believe this could be a key factor holding Canada back.
While Canada’s Prime Minister – in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos – urged middle power nations to abandon nostalgia for the traditional world order and form new, flexible, and strategic coalitions, I don’t know that Canadian higher education currently has the capacity to align and connect – across institutions and provincial/territorial governments – to move to a new world order.
The only true element of connective tissue across the country is the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), which works nationwide and across sectors. The CBIE does important work in advocacy, professional development and program management, as well as running an all-important annual conference which is the “go to” event for international educators in this country. In the absence of other drivers of collective action, the CBIE launched a new Learn Canadian global brand campaign in November 2025.
While our two countries are alike in so many ways, the different set of actors in international education is stark. With weak internal connectivity, it remains to be seen how effectively “Team Canada” can pull together to rebuild Canada’s damaged national brand.
Dr Douglas Proctor recently took up the role of Assistant Vice-President, Global Engagement and Partnerships at York University in Toronto, where he is leading the development and implementation of York’s next internationalization and global engagement strategy. Following prior positions in Australia, Ireland, France and New Caledonia, Canada brings together the English- and French-speaking parts of Douglas’ journey in international education.
