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Should anything jeopardize the longstanding relationship the University of Alberta has developed with China — where students may be restricted or prevented from coming to the province — the loss “would cause serious financial trouble for the university,” says Baron.

A diversification strategy also benefits the university by building on its already strong reputation as a truly international campus and allows domestic students to profit from being around “a richness of perspectives,” Baron says.

The situation at the University of Alberta is not unique to Edmonton, however.

In 2015, there were more than 1.26 million Chinese students studying abroad in 80 countries. About 120,000 of those chose to study in Canada.

Students from China make up 61 per cent of the University of Toronto’s international student base and 57 per cent at both Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

Building on success

How the University of Alberta ended up with the majority of foreign students originating from one nation goes back to when, under the leadership of then-president Indira Samarasekera, the institution sought to become an international player with global relevance.

About 10 years ago, less than five per cent of the undergraduate population were international students. Samarasekera launched a “dynamically driven” recruitment campaign to bring that up to 15 per cent.

China became the obvious market — the quality of their education system was and still is one of the best in the world and there is a huge reservoir of young, talented students from middle-class families who have the brains and the bankroll to study abroad.