If I may, with my co-host Dr. Marsden's permission, I would also like to welcome you to York University -- my alma mater. Just to put things into perspective, I graduated from York in 1979 -- the same year that most of this year's undergraduates were born!

So you'll understand that this "homecoming" is a time of mixed emotions for me!

Today, we are very pleased to have la crème de la crème of Canada's educational community. We are honoured that all of you have agreed to participate in this roundtable.

There are representatives from the private and public sectors, from the provinces, from colleges and universities, students, teachers, and relevant federal departments involved in the international education marketing process. We come from many perspectives, but we share a common purpose: to do a better job of marketing Canadian education to the world.

My perspective, of course, is that of international trade. As Trade Minister, I have seen how highly regarded Canadian graduates and Canadian schools are around the world. It's no accident that every year the Microsofts of this world come north to recruit from our colleges and universities: they know that our educational system is among the best in the world.

And around the globe, we find an impressive array of public and private sector leaders who have been shaped by their educational experience here in Canada.

This provides us with a wonderful opportunity to project Canadian values onto the world stage, to influence future leaders and even future events.

The internationalization of our campuses will open new horizons to Canadian students, and better equip them to meet the challenges, and grasp the opportunities, of globalization. There are good public policy reasons for opening our doors to more international students, and there are good business reasons for doing so as well.

Today, we also understand that our education system is an economically valuable resource, that it is an export commodity, and we've got to start thinking about it, and marketing it, in that way.

You all know the numbers: in 1994-95, international students contributed $2.3 billion to our economy. That's the equivalent of 21 000 jobs!

That's why education has become such a big part of our Team Canada trade missions. In fact, on our latest mission to Latin America, education was the third-largest sector represented, with 56 participants, including seven university presidents. And on my recent trade mission to China, I met with the presidents of the 22 Canadian university alumni associations that are active in Hong Kong.

As more and more of the world becomes interested in education -- and sees its indispensable value in a knowledge-based economy -- Canada stands to benefit by meeting the need for high-skill training.

And I hardly need to remind this audience that at a time of declining domestic enrolment and shrinking university budgets, new sources of revenue must be found.

Last year, there were about 95 000 international students studying in Canada -- a number we can and must increase in the years to come. How we do that -- and do it effectively -- is part of what today's roundtable is all about.

Each of you is here because of your expertise. And I want to make it clear at the outset, that I have not come with a plan in my back pocket. You've seen our proposed strategy for the international marketing of education, and many of you have provided feedback. But they are only proposals -- we are open to any new ideas, or to improvements to ones we've already put forward.

What I do bring today is a firm commitment to this file. I have asked my department to make it one of the key priorities that I've set for the coming years. And I want to do everything I can to facilitate the marketing of Canadian educational services around the globe, and to remove the impediments that hamper your efforts.

I am also here representing a government that has made a strong commitment to education.

In our last budget -- a breakthrough budget for education -- our government demonstrated very clearly where we thought the first benefits of the fiscal dividend should go: and that is to students.

Through the Canadian Opportunities Strategy, we committed $2.5 billion to a Millennium Scholarship Fund, which will benefit 100 000 full- and part-time students every year, for 10 years.

The budget also proposed significant measures to help students manage their debt burden, and to make education more accessible.

These initiatives, as well as other elements of the Canadian Opportunities Strategy, represent an important investment in our young people -- and in our future.

The draft strategy that we have circulated raises a number of important issues, but let me just focus on five that I believe are key.

First, we must work on speeding up the process for issuing student visas and for processing applications to our academic institutions. We don't want to lose students, whose first educational choice is Canada, to other countries that have provided them with a faster and secure response. Red tape will be a red flag to these students, and we need to cut through it. This applies to both government and academic institutions.

Second, we have to address the whole area of quality assurance. We need to have the means of ensuring that anyone flying our flag over their classroom meets our standards. No self-respecting franchise company would allow someone to use a name and goodwill built up over many years without having a means of ensuring adherence to certain standards. And neither should we.

Third, and related to quality, is the need for a solid statistical basis for gathering and evaluating information about the job our partners are doing. Without such a reliable set of data, it will be impossible to do an effective cost-benefit analysis, or to establish trend lines in various regions.

Fourth, there is the issue of mutual recognition -- of credits and qualifications, diplomas and degrees. This involves both creating appropriate criteria for evaluating institutions and doing a better job of advertising our own schools abroad.

Fifth, we need to bring the principles and approaches of Team Canada to bear on promoting educational opportunities to the world. Let's find exciting, creative and effective ways of doing this by breaking down the walls that divide us and building bridges to unite us. In other words, how can we pool our resources to support such a campaign? I would be very interested in your ideas on that point.

We also know that many Canadian institutions of higher learning are attracting fewer international students than they could be, because they are not as well known as they should be. We need to work on making them better known around the world.

These five issues -- visas, quality assurance, a solid statistical foundation for analysis and mutual recognition and uniting out efforts in a common cause -- are not exhaustive, but I think they are among the most urgent, and I would welcome your ideas on how we can do them better.

I would also invite you to consider two other questions: First, are we going to have one delivery mechanism, like the Canadian Education Centre Network in Asia and Latin America, or are we going to have two -- or more?

Second, where should new education centres be located? What are the geographic areas of most promise? And what kinds of service should they offer in specialized new markets?

Before I close, let me make some proposals for your consideration.

As you saw in our draft strategy paper, one of the things under consideration is an Education Marketing Advisory Board, which would provide advice to the Minister on how my department -- and other relevant departments -- could be of the most help to the education community in your marketing efforts abroad.

I think this idea has real merit, but I would like your thoughts.

The strategy also proposes to create a dedicated and identifiable international education marketing unit in my department, in order to provide one-stop shopping for those of you seeking to sell your products and services around the globe. This unit could work toward setting up new education marketing centres beyond the existing centres in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. This unit will report to the Minister for International Trade through the Chief Trade Commissioner.

While we have made a good start, I cannot help but feel that there is more that we could be doing in the area of marketing and providing information. Funds are limited, in both government and institutions, but by working together, we can help make "Brand Canada" better known. I would be interested in your ideas about how we could work together to enhance our collective marketing efforts.

You know, as Trade Minister, one thing has become very clear to me and that is that we are part of a world market very different from anything that has gone before. It is a marketplace unencumbered by distance, unrestricted by technology and unmindful of country of origin. Those industries that understand and embrace these new realities will reap the benefits.

The global village envisioned by Marshall McLuhan is here. The Internet has become our town square, where information is exchanged and ideas debated. Our village boasts a marketplace to which all of us can bring our wares and offer our services. And in this village, Canada must be the classroom.

I look forward to your thoughts on how we can make that happen. Thank you for your participation today, and for your commitment to this exciting opportunity.

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