Internationalization Through NNES Student Recruitment

Abstract

It can be difficult to decipher the extent to which Canadian university internationalization efforts have been corralled to actualize mostly through non-native English speaking (NNES) foreign student recruitment. Although international surveys often report that an overwhelming majority of foreign students endorse Canada as a study destination and are satisfied with their Canadian study experience, the voices of students who experience a different reality are often overlooked. This chapter begins with an overview of internationalization values. The author then reviews the ways in which neoliberal ideology reshapes higher education as a good and places NNES foreign students as consumers in competition. Next, the foreign student recruitment is aligned with the internationalization rationales of generating revenue and migrating skills to benefit Canada's national economy. The reported realities of NNES foreign students are shared, followed by questions to springboard dialogue on identifying and mitigating gaps for NNES foreign student university study on Canadian campuses.