Canada as a Small CountryInternational Conference on The University in a Small Country and Global WorldUniversity of Latvia, Riga

Dr. Sheila EmbletonYork University, Toronto, Canada

September 26, 2009

Canada – from sea to sea to sea

But Canada is large…!

•Russia 17,098,242 km2

•Canada 9,984,670 km2 (6.7% of total landmass)

•China 9,596,961 – 9,639,688 – 9,758,801 km2

•USA 9,629,091 km2

•Latvia 64,589 km2

•English 340m, #3 and French 78m, #11

(with L2, English 812m, #2 and French 128m, #9)

•British Commonwealth, la francophonie

•Latvian 1.6m, #201

•G8, G20, NATO, OAS, APEC, …

But Canada is large …!

•Longest coastline in the world

•Longest “unprotected” land-border in the world

•9% of the world’s available freshwater

•Natural and agricultural resources

But remember that …

•population 33,758,000 (August 2009)

•0.5% of the world’s population (#36)

•USA is ~307,238,000m (4.53%)

•Latvia 2,257,300 (0.033%) (#141)

•Population density per km2: Canada 3.0 (#219), Latvia 36 (#170)

•¾ of the population within 150 km of border

•“mosaic” vs. “melting pot”

•43 ethnic origins with > 100,000

Canada – from sea to sea to sea

We are a mosaic

•10 provinces, 3 territories

(Ontario 13.2m, Québec 7.8m, British Columbia 4.4m, Alberta 3.6m, … Prince Edward Island 140,402)

(Ontario 1,076,395 km2 , Québec 1,542,056 km2 , BC 944,735 km2, Alberta 661,848 km2, … PEI 5660 km2)

•Autonomy = many things are provincial responsibility not federal, e.g. education, health care, various certifications, etc.

Ontario flag

Living next to an Elephant…

Education

•excellence in higher education

•English (and French) language

•rankings (THES, Shanghai Jiaotong, etc.)

•THES 5 in top 100, 12 in top 200 (compared to US 37 in top 100, 56 in top 200)

•attractiveness for political, social, logistical reasons

•technologically advanced (cell phones and internet), excellent health care, etc.

•technology and inventiveness

Technology and inventiveness (1)

•long history (Alexander Graham Bell, telephone, 1876)•information technology and communications (telephone, blackberry, radio tubes, wireless radio, radio-transmitted voice [and first trans-Atlantic voice transmission], television, foghorn, Watfor and java computer languages, walkie-talkie, wire-photo (1924), computerized Braille)•medicine (insulin, first heart valve operation, first implantable remotely controlled artificial heart, heart pacemaker, CPR mannequins, bone marrow compatibility test, pablum, electric wheelchair, cobalt-6-bomb cancer treatment, cancer blood test, able walker, electric prosthetic hand (1971), Air Canada as first totally non-smoking airline)

Technology and inventiveness (2)

•other technology (Canadarm, crash position indicator, electron microscope, stereo-orthography mapmaking system, sonar, UV degradable plastics, instant replay on TV (1955), electric oven, electronic music synthesizer, electric organ, extraction of oil from tar-sands, plexiglass, electric car heater, caulking gun, spirit level, television, green ink for banknotes (1862), phonograph/gramophone, odometer, STOL aircraft, hydrofoil boat, ship screw propellor (1833), IMAX (1967) films, panoramic picture camera, film colorization, tone-to-pulse converter, Robertson screwdriver [square tip], humane fur animal trap, kerosene, …

Technology and inventiveness (3)

… explosives vapour detector, fathometer, perforated breakwater, automatic postal sorter, propeller de-icer, tracer bullets, alkaline battery, oxyacetylene torch, first patented lightbulb)

•food stuffs (frozen fish, ginger ale, chocolate bar, instant potato flakes, synthetic sucrose [1953], Thousand Islands dressing, bloody Caesar cocktail, canola oil, “latte art”)

Technology and inventiveness (4)

•items in daily use (zipper, wonderbra [push-up bra], Tilley hats and clothing, green plastic garbage bags, newsprint, paint roller, snowblower, snowmobile/skidoo [Bombardier 1922 – now airplanes!], jetliner, electric streetcar (1883), double-decker commuter trains, scenic-dome rail cars, railway car brake, rotary railway snowplough, roadway guardrail, pictographs for universal signage, lawn sprinkler (1870s), standard time and time zones, washing machine, electric kettle, electric range/stove, surtitles, Gore-tex®, crocs, Winnie the Pooh [<Winnipeg], board game Trivial Pursuit [by York Education graduates!])

Technology and inventiveness (5)

•sports (lacrosse, five-pin bowling, rollerskates, laser sailboat, tabletop hockey-game, basketball, unfortunately not hockey but at least the goalie mask)

•agriculture (combine harvester, potato digger, rust-resistant red fife wheat, barbed wire – we are not responsible for the uses others made of that)

•entertainment figures (Paul Anka, Diana Krall, Oscar Peterson, Tori Amos, Leslie Nielsen, Lorne Greene, Céline Dion, Rachel McAdams [a York grad!], …)

•while many are outright new technology, many are inventive/novel uses of existing technology or just “smart” – no R&D cost, just ingenuity

Returning to the theme of education

•quality of the education•attractiveness of Canada (“Canadian Experience Class” application for permanent resident status, from October 2008)•peaceful•democratic socialism•social justice•access/opportunity•prosperity

BUT•fragmentation•difficulty in getting a national “brand”

What is the Canadian “brand”?

EduCanada consultations

•Peacekeeping (Lester Pearson, Suez Crisis, 1956)

•non-belligerent

•forging and living up to international agreements

•foreign aid

•help in times of disaster (earthquake, tsunami, health crises, fires, etc.)

•clean/not-polluted

•friendly

•quiet diplomacy

•cold climate …

The logo is perhaps more well-known!

Changing landscape for international education in past 20 years

•Fall of Berlin Wall / demise of USSR

•Economic emergence of Asia

•Bologna Process

•Internet technology (recruitment, “Global Village”, online instruction, sense of anytime anywhere

•Current global economic (and confidence) crisis

•Going forward – transition into a knowledge-based economy

•Australian marketing techniques (Australian Education International: 555 staff, 25 offices, $51m (CDN) annual budget plus IDP Education Australia: 600 staff, 82 offices, budget not known

Marketing efforts of others (1)

•Australian Education International: 555 staff, 25 offices, $51m (CDN) annual budget plus IDP Education Australia: 600 staff, 82 offices, budget unknown

•EduFrance/CampusFrance: staff not available, 108 offices, budget not available

•DAAD (Germany): 272 staff (plus 378 contract staff), 63 offices, budget $455m

•Education New Zealand: staff 10, offices 1, budget not known

*Data from Daniel Guhr, Illuminate Group, August 12, 2009

Marketing efforts of others (2)

•British Council/Education UK: 5570 staff (plus instructors), ~233 offices, budget $1.03b; Universities UK: staff 10, offices 1, budget $16.8m (CDN)

•US Dept of Education: staff (unknown), offices 1, budget $146M (CDN)

•NUFFIC (The Netherlands): 240 staff, 13 offices, $178m

•China?

*Data from Daniel Guhr, Illuminate Group, August 12, 2009

Canada’s marketing effort?

About $2m per year for EduCanada branding, plus CEC network, DFAIT… and individual universities, colleges, other post-secondaries, etc.

QED: Canada is a small country!

In international education, as in so much else, Canada is indeed a small country, although perhaps verging on middling, with considerable logo recognition, virtually no profile or “brand”, yet a lot of respect and good feelings, but huge unrealized potential.