Bonnie McKie, CAPS-I

The following interview is an unabridged version of the Educator Association Q&A that appears in the October 2025 edition of StudyTravel Magazine.

What has Canadian Association of Public Schools – International (CAPS-I) been up to over the past 12 months?

CAPS-I organised/offered four trade missions for members over the last 12 months in Mexico, Prague, Türkiye and Taiwan. We also attended agent workshops/conferences in Canada, UK, Italy, Germany, France and Kuala Lumpur. This past Spring we also signed an agreement with Felca [the Federation of Education and Language Consultant Associations], which we’re excited about!

Members experienced a small increase in long-term students and a slight decrease in short-term students in 2023/24, according to your report late last year, with decreases from Europe offset by the return of key Asian markets. How was enrolment in 2024/25?

Enrolment was relatively stable in 2024/25 with our member schools enrolling a total of 33,199 students in short- and long-term programs, down just two per cent from the year prior. Some of this change in enrolment can also be attributed to the withdrawal of a couple of members last year.

China and Germany remained the number one and two source markets for one semester and full academic year programs. Japan overtook South Korea for third spot and Brazil rounded out the top five markets. For short-term programs, Japan and Colombia remained the number one and two source markets respectively, with Japan up over the year prior and the number of students from Colombia having declined.

For StudyTravel Magazine’s recent news story on the CAPS-i 2024/25 member data, see here.

This year our annual conference was held in Calgary, Alberta and according to reviews, ‘our best yet!’ The vast majority of presentation and panel sessions were presented by members, a great showcase and sharing of best practices. We’re starting to begin planning for our 2026 Conference already which will be held in Montreal, Quebec next Spring.

You hosted a trade mission to Taiwan in May. How successful was it? How many members/agencies attended? This market had a year-on-year increase in 2023/24 so seems to be an area of focus for members.

It was a great event and our association’s first in-person trade mission to Taiwan. We had 19 members from seven different provinces participate in the mission meeting with 19 agencies from across the country. The mission was well supported by IECA – Taiwan , the International Education Consultants Association in Taiwan and also our Canadian Trade Office.

Members were very impressed by the quality of the agencies and conversations. Many also organised meetings outside of our event in Taipei as well. Although late in the enrolment cycle for September 2025, by end of June participating members had already received 17 student applications and a dozen more strong inquiries.

Planning is well underway for trade missions to China, Spain, Chile and Colombia during the 2025/26 school year. Our membership guidebook and maps continue to be very popular resources for agencies. Those have been updated for 2025/26 and are ready for distribution at events or upon request. Our association plans in a three-year cycle so we’re currently finalising our strategic plan for 2025/28 along with a multi-year plan for trade missions through to 2030.

Bonnie McKieis the Executive Director of Canadian Association of Public Schools – International (CAPS-I), which was established in 2008 and represents around 125 member school boards and districts across the country.

See here to read more about CAPS-I, its members, events and resources.