Collaboration promotes Victoria as education destination

Three post-secondary institutions and three school districts in the Capital Regional District have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to promote Victoria as an education destination for international students.

The University of Victoria, Camosun College, Royal Roads University (RRU), the Greater Victoria School District 61, Sooke School District 62, and Saanich School District 63 are now members of Education Victoria, a joint partnership to promote academic cooperation and student pathways for the benefit of students and the six institutions and school districts.

The five-year agreement involves joint marketing and recruitment activities in target international markets; shared coordination of activities such as agent familiarization visits, recruitment travel, conference presentations, advertising and promotion; and the exchange of data, documentation and research materials.

The Education Victoria partnership has been in the works since 2013, when UVic, Camosun, RRU and District 61 came together to recruit international students to the region. The idea is to overcome the challenges of increased competition in international recruitment, as well as explore new ways of positioning Victoria as an education destination.

To date, Education Victoria has coordinated six visits to Vietnam and two visits to Korea for Victoria Day promotional fairs. The project has also presented at leading international education conferences in 2015 and 2016.

The long-term vision for Education Victoria is to position Victoria and the Vancouver Island region as a centre of excellence in education. This is based on Canada’s and BC’s strong global reputation for high-quality education, and on Victoria’s reputation as a safe and welcoming community that offers natural beauty and the mildest weather in the country.