The New Westminster School District recently sent assistant superintendent Al Balanuik, along with two other staffers, on a trip to Mexico to help boost international education enrolment.
The trio went to Mexico last month to sign an agreement with Universidad Tec Milenio, a school with 43 campuses.
"Our staff will go to marketing fairs and present information about our school district to agents and others," said Balanuik. "That's what we need to do in order to attract students to our school district."
The district is in a globally competitive environment, he said.
Karen Klein, the district's manager of international education, said the district is already seeing results from the trip.
"We've already had one application," she said. "We will be having at least one student, and we expect to have maybe upward of eight to 10 students a year."
The district's international education program brings in about $2 million a year in gross revenue for the district. After costs, including marketing fees, Balanuik estimates there is about $1.5 million left over that is shifted into the district's operating budget.
International students pay $6,500 a semester for school. The district also offers a homestay program for foreign students. Fees for that are paid in addition to school charges.
Students come from all over the world to attend school in New Westminster, including from China, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Germany and Korea.
New Westminster has offered international education since 1987.
"We were among the first districts in the province to have international education," Balanuik said. "It is a very solid business, and I would submit that you would be hard-pressed to find a district in the Lower Mainland that doesn't have an international education program."
There are approximately 180 students enrolled in international education in New Westminster.
The Mexico trip cost about $10,000 for Balanuik, Klein and Trevor Gee, marketing manager for international education. The cost of the trip comes out of the international education budget and not from the provincial government's funding to the district.
