CMEC represents the education interests of Canada’s provinces and territories internationally. While all provinces and territories carry out education-related international activities individually, CMEC provides them with the means to speak, act, and intervene collectively on the world stage.

At its July 2019 meeting, CMEC approved the CMEC International Education and Engagement Strategy, 2019–22, which provides a framework to guide CMEC’s international activities for this period.

  • The CMEC Secretariat hosts the Canadian Information Centre of International Credentials (CICIC), which collects, organizes, and distributes information and acts as a national clearinghouse and referral service to support the recognition and portability of Canadian and international educational and occupational qualifications.
  • Provinces and territories have begun to use CMEC to support bilateral and multilateral discussions in education with other countries. For example, since 2010, three high-level consultations on education collaboration between the provinces and territories of Canada and the People’s Republic of China have taken place, each resulting in the co-signing of summaries of discussions or joint statements.
  • Relationships are also strengthened through visits of international delegations to CMEC, several of which occur each year. Visiting delegations from other countries wish to learn about Canada’s education system and experiences and often think of CMEC as their first stop.
  • While education is the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces and territories in Canada, CMEC works cooperatively with the Government of Canada on issues that touch on international relations. Provinces and territories, through CMEC, meet on a regular basis with federal colleagues to discuss issues such as strategic market engagement, education-related memoranda of understanding (MOUs), inbound and outbound student mobility, marketing of Canadian education abroad, and international student visas.

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