Canada is a country of nearly 33 million people, people who have settled from around the world in this land rich with natural resources, beauty and a world-class education system.

Statistics Canada (2006) reports that 44 % of our population is under 35 years of age, with 31% of those under 35 being in the age range of 15-24 - that is, 4.2 million. Of these, nearly half are in the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario alone.

The Conference Board of Canada tells us that a predicted 25 billion dollars will be spent on outbound travel by Canadians in 2008 (www.conferenceboard.ca). And with youth making up a large portion of that figure, the Canadian market is not one to be overlooked.

IIE's Open Doors 2009 Report tells us that there were nearly 30,000 Canadians studying in the US in institutions of higher education during the 2007/08 academic year. That is an increase of 3% over the previous year and means that Canada is now the fourth largest source country of international students going to the US. With these numbers on the rise, American universities and colleges are well advised to direct their focus to this market.

And Canadians are in the top 10 list of highest volume source countries to UK universities, with a recent average of 5000 students every year studying in higher education institutions across the UK.

According to the AUCC (Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada - www.aucc.ca ), Canadian universities are aiming to see 5% of students enrolled in higher education in Canada have study abroad experience, with the goal of 18,000 students going abroad as part of their curriculum each year by 2010. And this does not include the numbers of fee-paying students going abroad for short or long term studies.

International students abound in Canada, and AUCC's reported that in 2006, there were approximately 70,000 full time and 13,000 part time international students at Canadian universities. And of course, Canadian language schools attract hundreds of thousands of student from over 100 countries every year.

These all make up a large portion of who your prospects are in Canada and who use Canadian Student Magazine, GoStudy.ca and Recruit in Canada University Fairs to obtain information about Canadian and overseas educational and experiential opportunities.