Languages Canada – Canada’s national association for English and French language education programs in Canada – has just wrapped up a successful trade mission to Moscow and Kyiv which brought together 19 LC member programs and 34 high quality education agencies from Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Poland. Close to 700 B2B meetings took place between participating LC members and attending agencies during the week-long mission.
The mission was made possible with the support of the Embassies of Canada in Moscow and Kyiv; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Global Affairs Canada's CanExport - Associations program. The mission included a reception in Kyiv hosted by Roman Waschuk Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine, which was attended by representatives of Ukrainian educational institutions and government officials. Members also benefited from presentations by local IRCC staff in both Kyiv and Moscow, as well as one-on-one meetings with local Education Trade Commissioners Liliana Zhylina and Stephanie Loiseau.
The mission included a number of innovative value-added presentations, supporting Languages Canada’s goal to diversify members’ business development efforts in the region. These included presentations from: Phillip Ivanov and Ekaterina Patyulina of Avtor Media – specialists in using social influencers for the promotion of education overseas and Ms. Oleksandra Slobodyan of the CEDOS Think Tank on recent student data from Ukraine.
Languages Canada board member Julian Inglis, Business Development and Program Manager at the University of Guelph has been on several trade missions with Languages Canada, which provide institutions such as the University of Guelph, with a unique opportunity to make new partnerships in the target markets. “I am able to meet every agent participating in these trade missions,” said Julian, “which is not something I can do at larger events.”
Both Russia and Ukraine have experienced challenges in recent years that have affected student recruitment. However, these markets have recently been showing signs of growth. In 2018, 1768 students from Russia and 1074 students from Ukraine studied at Languages Canada member programs.
Participating member programs expressed satisfaction with the organization of the mission. Floyd Curtis of St. Clair College, who joined us for his first mission with Languages Canada, said "I really like the smaller scale of this mission. It's more private and intimate than other large events, so there are more opportunities to meet with partners."
"This is my first Languages Canada trade mission, and I was very impressed with the organization,'' said Saurabh Malhotra, Manager of International Recruitment and Market Development at Fanshawe College. Saurabh manages a team of 13 people including Galyna Arnautova, International Education Advisor for Europe who joined him on this mission. Both Fanshawe College and St. Clair College have already registered for the upcoming trade mission to Thailand and Vietnam, taking place in March 2020.
Languages Canada wishes to thank our long-standing mission sponsor guard.me international insurance. Lorie Lee, guard.me’s Director of International Business Development who is experienced in the region, was very complimentary about the organization of the mission. She said that guard.me is happy to support the member programs.
Thank you to all participating Languages Canada members and education agencies!
REGISTER NOW for the next Languages Canada Trade Mission, taking place March 2 to 6, 2020 to Thailand and Vietnam. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to meet with agents from these key markets driving more and more students to Canada every year!
For more information on Languages Canada trade missions, please contact Diego Sanchez, Manager, International Marketing at dsanchez@languagescanada.ca
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