Sudbury Catholic school board turns to international students to boost enrolment, revenue

With student populations declining across most of northern Ontario, Catholic schools in Sudbury are turning to international students to fill their classrooms.

Recruiting international students has become a focus of the Sudbury Catholic School Board, according to board superintendentTerry Papineau.

"We have the same-sized buildings with fewer and fewer students in them," Papineau told CBC's northern Ontario afternoon program, Up North.

"Recruiting students from other countries helps us to put more students in our classrooms."

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Currently, the Catholic board has one student from Japan attending St. Charles College in Sudbury, while two students one each from China and Vietnam are attending St. Benedict Catholic Secondary.

Khoa Pham made the trip from Vietnam to study in Sudbury. While Pham said he misses his friends back home, he's happy to be in Canada.

"In Canada, there's very good education here," the Grade 11 student said, addinghe intends to go back to Vietnam for the summer to visit family, beforereturning in thefall to begin Grade 12.

Pham said his goals are to go to university and work in Canada.

International students can help expand programs and the bottom line

Unlike exchange students, international students pay tuition roughly equal tothe amount the province would fund anOntario student, Papineau said.

For the Sudbury Catholic board, that works out to about $12,500 per year per student.

Attracting students from abroad can also provide amore diverse environment for kids already studying here, Papineau continued, adding that reaching out to other markets can foster programs like staff and student exchanges.

It's not in our culture to send students away-Board superintendent Terry Papineau

The Sudbury Catholic board started recruiting last year, Papineau said, with the three students currently studying in the northeast arriving in February.

"It's not in our culture to send students away," Papineau said.

"But in other countries ... it is part of their culture," he said. "We have not been taking advantage of that and we want to do so in the future."