Quote: (08-22-2015 02:38 PM)Tytalus Wrote:
UBC has been catering to Asian students since the late 90's, I know because I went to UBC in '02.
The reason why UBC (and btw, the entire University&College) is competing so hard for Asian cash is the fact that the local provincial BC government has been starving them and the rest of the University system of funding for years. Also, there is a law in BC that tuition rates cannot go up by more than 2% or 3% a year, so schools can't charge what it costs them to do business even with the block funding by the provincial government. BC leads Canada in the use of sessional or adjunct faculty by a large margin.
Why is this? Healthcare costs. Over 60% of the BC provincial budget goes directly to the Ministry of Healthcare - I shit you not. We have a healthcare ministry that happens to also be a provincial government, not the other way around. All the other ministries are being drained so Healthcare, the #1 thing people vote about over here, stays in shape.
The economy here is lousy, and so the government does not have "new revenue procurement" options. They also refuse to reform how we deliver healthcare to a Swedish model (which ironically is actually more capitalist than what we have here) which would lower costs.
I agree. Funding cuts have hit BC universities hard. International students pay much higher tuition which is why UBC wants international students.
I realize this thread discussed Chinese specifically. To clarify regarding Vantage College, it is small at this point - only had 187 students last year. There are more than just Chinese students at Vantage. The website had video bios of 3 students, a latina from Honduras, a latino from Ecquador, and a Chinese girl. But the Chinese girl spoke good English and moved to the US for high school.