Today’s Globe and Mail is positively breathless in exclaiming that foreign students—which they’ve informed us are all “high quality”—are flocking to Canadian universities. Why? Because getting through the security checkpoints into the United States is too difficult.
In other words, it’s easy for these people to get into Canada, yet it is perceived as impossible for them, security-wise, to get into the U.S.—for no particular reason that they mention in the story. And this is a Canada “positive”, this lack of security in relation tho theirs. No security is good security. Advantage Canada, apparently.
But then watch how the story really just turns into what they wanted it to be in the first place—a story about how liberal flunkies who just can’t stand George Bush winning the election, are moving to Canada because they’re so lame they can’t even stand up and fight for their own country. (Don’t expect them to fight for ours).
Facing U.S. security hurdles, top students flock to Canada
Canada’s top universities are seeing a huge influx of applications from high-quality international graduate students as many try to avoid the layers of security checks and visa problems introduced in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Foreign applications to the University of Toronto and McGill University have doubled in the past four years. And at the University of British Columbia, they have climbed by about 25 per cent.
“There’s no doubt that the difficulties in the U.S. have been Canada’s gain in terms of interest from international students,” said Jenny Phelps, director of student academic services for the faculty of graduate studies at UBC.
International graduate enrolment climbed almost 20 per cent at Canadian universities between the academic year 2002-03 and 2003-04, according to a survey of seven universities done by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies.
At the same time, institutions in the United States are struggling with a 6-per-cent decline in enrolment after a decade of steady growth.
Portuguese resident David da Silva can rhyme off a list of reasons for choosing to complete his PhD at McGill University rather than an Ivy League U.S. school: engaging professors, cutting-edge research and a notable biology program. But the reason that stands out is that the foreign student wanted to avoid the security hassles that came with studying in the United States.
“With the present international situation about terrorism . . . you kind of think twice before wanting to go to the States,” said Mr. da Silva, 29. His university in Portugal, the University of Coimbra, requires him to do part of his research in developmental biology outside his home country.
“Most of the very good scientists are in the States. That’s true. But I think Canada and Montreal and McGill for me is a good compromise between being in North America and not being in the States,” Mr. da Silva said.
The same holds true for California native Joshua Caulkins. The political climate in the United States helped sway his decision to move to Vancouver and do his PhD at UBC, he said. He has found that other Americans doing their graduate studies in Canada share his political views.
“I feel really lucky to be here during this time of turmoil in the world. It feels so safe to be in Canada,” said Mr. Caulkins, 28. “I don’t like what’s going on down there, and I’m glad I’m here during this time.”
The United States’s loss is Canada’s gain, university officials say.
“It’s more like politics was a kind of a wake-up call or a catalyst for [foreign] students to start noticing that there were options outside of the United States,” said Susan Pfeiffer, dean of graduate studies at the University of Toronto.
And then of course, the real message; the Liberal Message of the Day:
But despite the flood of applications, both from the United States and abroad, there’s still concern among university officials that Canada can’t take full advantage of the growth in applications unless the federal and provincial governments provide more money. […]
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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