Marathon Woman
The World Bank estimates that the international training-and-education market is worth $2 trillion (U.S.). Ava Czapalay wants Nova Scotia to snag a larger share 
It’s a good thing Ava Czapalay doesn’t suffer from jet lag, because she travels a lot. Her record is 19 flights in 21 days between Brazil and Argentina. “Diet and exercise are the secrets,” says the 41-year-old, who stays fit by running every day whether she’s at home or in some far-flung locale. She recently returned from a trip to market Nova Scotia’s education services to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a tiny Arabian Gulf country known mainly for its oil wealth. “Ten years ago when I would visit Dubai, there were still wild camels strolling around not far from luxury high-rise hotels,” she says. “Thanks to oil, it is modernizing rapidly, and with that comes the demand for education and training.”
With that kind of market opportunity, it makes sense that knowledge is a strategic growth sector. While the province continues to be a popular destination for a larger number of international students, education and training also are becoming recognized as value-added exports. In fact, Nova Scotian-designed courses, training, and professional-development programs are increasingly being taught around the world, either directly in foreign schools or indirectly via the Internet. A trade strategist with almost two decades of experience in international education marketing, Czapalay is president and CEO of EduNova (www.edunova.ca), a not-for-profit association that will aggressively market the province’s educational services internationally. Members include 11 universities, 13 community colleges, seven school boards, and several privatetraining companies. Funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and the Nova Scotia Office of Economic Development, as well as by its members, EduNova recently was launched on a permanent basis as a result of a successful four-year pilot project and an independent audit that showed that an export alliance was sustainable. Throughout her career, Czapalay has worked with various kinds of educational institutions to help develop niche markets for high-quality and affordable educationand-training services. She describes the UAE as “a great market” for Nova Scotia because that country’s laws don’t allow foreigners, who comprise 85% of the population, to become citizens, meaning that their children aren’t eligible for public education. As a result, they’re an available source of international students for Nova Scotia. Also, that country is seeking education partners to help meet local demands for quality education and training. The creation of EduNova in October is a sign that the Government of Nova Scotia recognizes that education makes a significant contribution to the economy. The numbers speak for themselves; each year about 4,000 international students inject an estimated $27,000 per student (totalling more than $100 million annually) into provincial coffers. “The United States and the Caribbean have a long history with us as a source of students,” says Czapalay, “and it’s time to expand to new markets.”
Changing Market
Czapalay was a natural choice to head EduNova; she has been involved with education-marketing activities in various forms for almost 20 years. After successfully administering Nova Scotia’s education-marketing pilot project, she became a certified international trade professional and spent a year at the International Trade Centre in Halifax developing the serviceexport sector for the province. Czapalay comes to EduNova from the Office of Economic Development where, as a corporate strategist, she helped develop a provincial trade strategy. Wherever Czapalay travels, she talks about the main selling points for Nova Scotia’s education products: high quality; value; a wide variety of programs; safety (always an important factor for parents); accessibility; and a temperate climate compared to the rest of Canada. Over the years she has watched the international marketplace for education change and grow. “Families in the Middle East who would have automatically sent their children to the United States are now thinking, ‘Why not Canada?’ ” she says. These days, excluding the U.S., China is a main source of foreign students coming to the province. Recruiting international students is only half of EduNova’s mission; the other half focuses on exporting education and training. One of the pilot-project successes was Mount Saint Vincent University’s winning bid for a World Bank-funded program to train school principals in Jamaica. “It demonstrated that collectively we were able to compete on an international level,” says Czapalay. “There were bids from the U.K., Australia, and all over the world.” Part of EduNova’s mandate is to monitor international requests for training and to identify ones that are suitable for EduNova’s members to bid on. “I strongly believe EduNova members can compete with the world in the overall quality of their training,” says Czapalay, who thinks that Nova Scotia’s growing reputation as a quality education provider will augment the province’s immigration strategy.
Once students arrive, the hard work is done. “Some of the international students in our high schools want to stay here for their post-secondary studies,” she says. “Those in university often want to stay beyond that.” For those who do return to their country of origin after they graduate, they take with them the new educational relationships they’ve forged in Nova Scotia that will help them open doors to their careers, whether they choose to work at home or abroad. Like running a marathon, the secret to success in the international marketplace is patience and focus. The same persistence and planning that has carried Czapalay through five marathons—including Halifax’s Blue Nose International Marathon, which she ran last year in gale force winds and rain—has put her at the helm of EduNova. “I run about 1,200 kilometres in training for a marathon,” she says. “I don’t mind travelling 12,000 kilometres to find an opportunity for Nova Scotia’s education exporters.” — Robert Martin
