Academic Mobility of Canadian Students

Who Studies Abroad, Where They Go and Why

Introduction

Canada is best known as a destination for international students, but it is also a significant source of outbound mobility. Canadian families are well travelled, the country is bilingual, and admission to the most selective programs at home is highly competitive. As a result, tens of thousands of Canadians enrol every year in full degrees abroad, and many more take part in exchanges, summer programs and internships outside the country. This page summarises what is known about Canadian students abroad, with a focus on the Quebec audience that attends the Salon Étudier à l'étranger in Montreal.

Overview of Canadian Outbound Mobility

According to UNESCO data compiled by WENR, about 52,000 Canadian students were enrolled in degree programs abroad in 2023, placing Canada 26th among 210 countries by number of outbound students. More telling is the outbound mobility ratio: 2.84% of Canadian higher-education students study abroad, against an OECD average of 1.84%.

Preferred Destinations and Levels of Study

Top Destinations

• United States: by far the first destination. Open Doors counted 28,998 Canadians in US higher education in 2023/24 and 29,903 in 2024/25, with undergraduates growing and graduate numbers slightly down.
• United Kingdom and Ireland: long-standing choices for undergraduate degrees, law and, in Ireland, medicine; English-language programs and three-year degrees are strong arguments.
• France and Belgium: the natural destinations for Quebec students, helped by tuition agreements and shared language.
• Australia, the Netherlands and other European countries: growing, especially for English-taught master's programs, health sciences and design.

Levels of Study in the United States

In the previous year (2023/24) the split was 13,726 undergraduates, 10,428 graduate students, 529 non-degree and 4,315 on OPT: the undergraduate share is rising, a trend that favours institutions recruiting directly in high schools and CEGEPs.

The Quebec Profile

• CEGEP: Quebec students complete a two-year pre-university college (CEGEP) and enter university at 18 or 19, with a strong academic base and a chosen field. Abroad, they usually enter four-year programs directly or, in some systems, with advanced standing.
• Language: most students in Montreal's private schools and CEGEPs are fluent in French and English; programs taught in either language find an audience.
• Agreements and funding: Quebec has tuition agreements with France and other francophone jurisdictions, and the provincial student aid system includes a program for international mobility and short stays outside Quebec, which supports exchanges and credited internships abroad.
• Fields: medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and other health professions (where domestic seats are scarce), business and finance, engineering and computer science, law, architecture and design, performing arts and hospitality.

Policy and Outlook

Government Support for Outbound Mobility

Canada's international education strategy explicitly set out to increase the number of Canadians studying and working abroad. The federal Global Skills Opportunity program (an investment of about 95 million dollars) was designed to give around 11,000 post-secondary students an international learning experience, with priority for students who had been under-represented in mobility.

Future Prospects

Only a minority of Canadian undergraduates (around one in ten, according to the Canadian Bureau for International Education) has an international learning experience during their studies, which leaves ample room for growth. Demographics, the competitiveness of domestic admissions in professional fields and the strong Canadian dollar relative to many European currencies all support continued demand for full degrees abroad.