Outbound Trade Mission to France

Why France?

France has become an important market for Canadian institutions, ranking as the top European market for ESL in Canada and the 8th largest source country for short-term programs in public K-12 schools.

While Canada is immensely popular for students interested in postsecondary education in the French language, most of those students go to Quebec, where institutions don’t typically work with education agents. On the other hand, hundreds of thousands of French students study in the UK, the US, Ireland, and Australia with the help of education agents each year, which clearly demonstrates that Canada is barely scratching the surface of France’s potential when it comes to studies in English.

With that in mind, Languages Canada welcomes BC institutions as well as CAPS-I (Canadian Association of Public Schools – International) members to join our upcoming 2025 outbound trade mission to France. With the support of the Trade Commissioner Service and the Embassy of Canada in Paris, Canadian institutions will meet with a group of top French agents and a handful of top Belgian agents over the course of 2.5 days.

This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your programs, reinforce existing relations, establish new partnerships, and ensure that European agents think of Canada first when it comes to studying abroad.

Why should you attend?

• Conduct B2B meetings and network with decision-makers from 24 high-quality, preselected European agencies in an intimate, small-scale setting;
• Build market presence and brand awareness with key players in the industry;
• Take advantage of the charming event location to conduct valuable off-site networking with agents and other Canadian participants.

What’s included?

• 3 hotel nights (Feb 16, 17 & 18) at the InterContinental Chantilly;
• 3 breakfasts (Feb 17, 18 & 19);
• Evening welcome dinner with the entire group on Feb 16;
• Morning break, lunch, afternoon break and dinner on Feb 17;
• Morning break and lunch on Feb 18;
• Recruitment, screening, and selection of 24 education agencies;
• Wi-Fi-enabled venue;
• 24 one-on-one meetings with agencies from France and a handful from Belgium;
• Complete event management, including B2B meeting scheduling;
• A participant handbook including detailed agency profiles.
• Access to additional agent contacts from waitlist (if applicable).

Price does not include airfare for Canadian participants. A discount code for Air Canada flights to Paris will be made available to participants.

Program at a glance

Saturday, February 15, 2025

• Suggested arrival day in Paris (free day).

Sunday, February 16, 2025

• Group bus transfer from downtown Paris to InterContinental Chantilly and welcome dinner.

Monday, February 17, 2025

• 16 business meetings with education agents.

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

• 8 business meetings with education agents until 2:00 p.m.

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

• Trade mission wraps up!