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Chilean Education Market Strategies
Chile has a population of 16.5 million with approximately one third living in the capital. It has a market-oriented economy with a high level of foreign trade and a reputation for strong financial institutions. Chile has been an OECD member since 2010 and aspires to obtain developed country status by 2020.
Canada and Chile have a broad and multi-faceted relationship including strong political, economic, social and cultural ties. Chile is Canada’s most like-minded partner in South America (e.g., democracy, human rights, and open markets). The Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement, in force since 1997, is the cornerstone of Canada’s diverse and growing commercial relationship with Chile.
Since 2007, Canada has launched several education initiatives with Chile, including the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP) and the Canada-Chile Leadership Exchange Scholarship Program. These programs enjoy full uptake, having offered over 350 short term scholarships since their launch to Chilean postsecondary students to come to Canada. A memorandum of understanding on Youth Mobility was signed in 2008 aimed at encouraging young Canadians and Chileans to travel and work in each other’s country for up to one year. Since its signature, more than 3,500 young Chileans have taken advantage of the memorandum of understanding to visit Canada for travel and work. There are approximately 200 active institutional agreements between Chilean and Canadian universities, which support student mobility, faculty exchange and joint curricula programs. In September last year, 40 Chilean students attended Canadian public high schools for one semester to broaden their horizons and learn English under the Government of Chile scholarship program: “Penguins without Borders”.
Canada has positioned itself as one of Chile’s top international education destinations and partners, and many opportunities exist to increase student recruitment, exchanges and further bilateral collaboration.
Attendees will come away from this roundtable with the following:
- Better knowledge about current and emerging education opportunities and challenges in Chile
- Knowledge about how best to connect with universities, technical/professional institutes (colleges), schools and other stakeholders who might be interested in exploring student recruitment, exchanges, partnerships, teacher and other specialized training.
- How BC institutions can benefit from the services provided by the Embassy of Canada in Chile and the education events held in Chile each year, including the Latin America Education Tour organized by Edu-Canada.
Presenter
Brenda Wills. First Secretary (Commercial) & Trade Commissioner, Embassy of Canada to Chile
Brenda Wills joined the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) in 2004 and has since served abroad at the embassies of Canada in Washington, D.C. and the Republic of Chile.
In Ottawa, she has held several positions, including Trade Commissioner in the Mexico Division. From 2005 to 2007, she was a Trade Policy Officer focused on initiatives with Europe and worked on the conclusion of Canada’s free trade agreement negotiations with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. Ms. Wills was first posted to the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. in 2007 as Trade Commissioner responsible for the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. In early 2008, she moved to the Economic section of the Embassy serving as Second Secretary (Trade Policy) until 2010.
Since August 2011, Ms. Wills has been First Secretary (Commercial) and Trade Commissioner at the Embassy of Canada to the Republic of Chile where she is responsible for bilateral and regional trade policy initiatives/issues, as well as trade promotion for the education and ICT sectors.
Prior to joining the Canadian Foreign Service, Ms. Wills worked as a Project Manager (Market Research) for Ipsos-Reid in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Previously, she also worked as a Customs Officer with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) at the Emerson, Manitoba port of entry.
Brenda Wills holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree in International Business and Marketing from the University of Manitoba. She speaks Spanish, French and English.
This is a non-paid BCCIE event open to all BC public school districts, recognized independent K-12 schools and EQA designated post-secondary institutions and languages schools.
To attend this event please register specifying your name, institution, position title and email address to BCCIE Events at events@bccie.bc.ca by Thursday, May 22nd, 2014.
For more information please contact BCCIE at events@bccie.bc.ca .