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Proposal for Establishing a Comprehensive The promotion of overseas education opportunities in Taiwan has become very competitive with numerous organizations, such as national education centers, private consulting centers and local education authorities trying to influence students' decision about their future education plans. Several countries have quite aggressive national representative education promotional centers in Taiwan, such as the British Education Center and the Australian Education Center, to woo Taiwanese students to their countries to further their studies on the secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels. The success of these centers, particularly the British center, has been unprecedented, with growth in student numbers over 500% in the past 10-15 years. Besides Britain's recent escalating students enrollment, the other popular destination for Taiwanese students is the United States, which has dominated Taiwan's overseas education for decades. Canada with equally competitive education quality, however, recruits far less students than the United States or the UK. Lack of the knowledge of studying in Canada is the crucial factor that steers Taiwanese students to other destinations. Only with stronger promotional activities will Canada be able to further develop its presence in the overseas education market and attract more Taiwanese students. Taiwan is one of the largest markets in the world from which to recruit students. Growth in the areas of graduate, language, and language plus certificate, diploma, degree, etc. programs will remain strong for the foreseeable future. To further encourage students to study overseas, the Taiwan Ministry of Education recently announced a new low-rate student loan program for students wanting to study overseas. With the strengths of Canadian programs, such as low tuition, affordable living expenses, safe environment and outstanding education quality, its potential for greater growth in the Taiwan market should remain high with sustained and comprehensive promotions. The Oh Canada Education Consulting Center will be working to establish a new resource center to promote Canadian education opportunities in Taiwan. The resource center would be open to the public with no user fee, and schools can place their materials in the center free of charge; moreover, resource centers will be set up in each of the branch offices of Oh Canada in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. The goal of the new center is to become known as the most comprehensive and accessible Canadian education resource center in Taiwan. A brief description of the Oh Canada Education Consulting Center can be viewed here. In addition to the open library, the center will also conduct a comprehensive, year-round set of outreach activities. The activities will include school seminars, education fairs, the establishment of a "virtual library", media liaison, publication of newsletters, magazines and guides and the provision of school and promotional materials to other libraries and schools in Taiwan. New Center -- Implementation The establishment of the center will happen in three stages. Stage 1: Resource Center The first stage will involve stocking the resource center with suitable school materials. The process for inviting schools to participate in the new center will be as follows:
Information for the new center will be stocked in the following priority:
Stage 2: Outreach Once the comprehensive resource center has been developed, our energies will turn towards outreach activities. First, a comprehensive and sustained promotions campaign will be launched in Taiwan to inform students and parents of the resource center and how information can be accessed. The promotions will be done through a direct mailing campaign, internet promotions, press releases, newspaper and magazine advertising, and postings in local schools and libraries. The center will also be promoted through regular Oh Canada promotional events such as its spring and fall education fairs. The new resource center will conduct in-house seminars and seminars on school campuses throughout Taiwan. Currently the Oh Canada center conducts approximately 3-400 school visits and seminars each year. This number will be increased and the content of the seminars will be expanded to reflect the nature of the new resource center. The center will also build up and maintain relationships with local media outlets to ensure information is distributed in an efficient and timely manner. Stage 3: Research and Publication The resource center will conduct research and produce publications in two different areas. First, The center's counselors will produce a series of newsletters, catalogues, e-zines, and sector specific (i.e., business schools, TESL programs, etc.) articles to be distributed through the center, in bookstores and to local schools and libraries. The content of these publications will be aimed at informing Taiwanese students of the potential study opportunities in Canada. The second area of research will focus on education sector market research to be used by overseas schools and organizations to better plan recruiting activities in Taiwan. The content of research will include:
This information will be published and distributed through the internet. New Center -- How to Participate Participating in the new resource center is very easy and can be done in two steps. Step 1 - Send Us Materials Please send your information to our center in Taipei, and they will be distributed to the other centers in Taichung and Kaohsiung. The information sent to us should include the following:
Please send the information to the following address: 6th Floor, 228 Tun Hua South Road, Section 1 Due to space limitation, Oh Canada reserves the right to select the quantity and suitability of materials to be placed in the resource center. Step 2 - Register On-line The second step to participate in the resource center involves filling out an on-line school profile. The questionnaire for this profile can be found at the following web site: http://61.222.32.179/schoolprofile/oc/index.asp. Or you can access it through http://ohcanada.net/cee. This profile can be updated at anytime, and our staff will use it for researching information about your programs; moreover, it will be made available in our "virtual library" in the future. Once you have been registered into our system, we will let you know of additional promotional opportunities that arise in Taiwan. Currently, schools wanting to come to Taiwan to promote their programs can participate in the spring and fall Canadian Education Expos. Information about these events can be viewed at the following web site: http://ohcanada.net/cee.Or you can access it through http://ohcanada.net/cee.As the popularity and usage of the center rises, additional opportunities for promotions in the center will include school seminars and advertising in various publications and web sites. Information and costs concerning these opportunities will be made available once the center is fully operational later in 2005. We sincerely hope your school will be able to participate in the Oh Canada resource center in Taiwan. The recruiting of international students in Taiwan has become more and more competitive and without an aggressive and pro-active plan, Canadian schools will have greater difficulty competing against schools from other countries. The Oh Canada Center is currently very active in the generic promotion of Canadian education opportunities in Taiwan and the expansion to open the new resource center is a logical conclusion to the development and growth of Oh Canada and its activities. To ensure the success of the new resource center, Oh Canada wants to keep it as inclusive as possible inviting all recognized educational institutions to participate at no cost. It is believe that in doing this, Oh Canada can assist to expand the position of Canada in the Taiwanese educational market, thereby providing a means to reach its own developmental goals. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact the Director of the Oh Canada Education Consulting Center, Mr. Brian Hockertz, directly at ohcanada@ohcanada.net. The person in charge of the resource center is Milan Chang, and she can be contacted at milan.chang@ohstudy.net.
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