Monday, May 07, 2007

Why are we there in the first place?

The Canadian embassy in Saudi Arabia is protesting a decision to shut down a booth at an education fair in the Saudi city of Jeddah aimed at wooing Saudi students to Canada because it was staffed by women.
Why are we 'wooing Saudi students'?

Do we think that once they get on the plane they will open their minds and eighteen years of ingrained disdain for women will spill out and they will embrace women as their equals and teachers?

I know. It's wrong to ask.

canadianna

9 comments:

valiantmauz said...

At a guess, we are wooing non-Canadians in general because the non-resident tuition fees can be cranked as high as the universities like - and they need the money.

And Saudi Arabia has a lot of money.

Canadianna said...

Perhaps we should be a little more choosy.
Just a thought.

valiantmauz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
valiantmauz said...

(reposted due to annoying stylistic quirk)

Perhaps.

I do think I am on the money with my guess (apologies for the pun).

There is a difference between recruiting wallets - er, students - for the universities and recruiting immigrants though. Do the students stay and gain citizenship, or do they return home?

Canadianna said...

valiantmauz -- You're right. It's all about money.
And I guess we won't know if they'll stay or go, but being here on a student visa sorta gives people the edge when it comes to staying on.

Ken Breadner said...

Universities "need the money", eh?
I'd love to see some sort of audit of the Canadian post-secondary education system. It's almost as bad as health care. You pay thousands of dollars a year to have professors read textbooks to you...and you have to buy the textbooks (which are outrageously priced themselves). It boggles the mind to think these institutions are crying poor.

Concerned said...

I too would like to see an audit of the Canadian post-secondary education system. I've always been a firm believer that if you want to get to the truth about something, the old adage "Follow The Money" is usually the best way to go.

Candace said...

"And I guess we won't know if they'll stay or go, but being here on a student visa sorta gives people the edge when it comes to staying on."

I'm not sure if you can apply for Landed Status while here on a student visa, but if you can, then most definitely they would have an edge. Lots of things get factored in, though, so I wouldn't make a blanket assumption on that. Besides, the application process can take a couple of years, so if the student doesn't apply in the first year or so, they'll have to either leave or extend the student visa (requiring f/t attendance at school).

Canadianna said...

No matter what, higher education at a Canadian university gives a person an edge. They would have Canadian credentials for whatever career they intended to pursue, they would have established some sort of network of friends and associates, they would have experience with out society. Depending on what category you're applying under, there are points given for all of these kinds of things. Even if you had to go back to your home country to apply, there would still a benefit to having Canadian experience.