The Canada China Business Council’s 2025 Canadian Education Mission entered its pivotal transition phase on November 2, as dozens of university presidents and recruitment officers boarded the high-speed rail from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing South. The sold-out four-day mission—running 30 October to 3 November—signals a deliberate reboot of bilateral academic engagement after pandemic-era student flows plunged by nearly 50 percent.
Delegates spent three days visiting Shanghai-area schools and agents to rebuild pipelines for Chinese undergraduates and joint-degree programmes. Sunday’s travel day is more than logistics: it offers an early test of China’s revamped port-visa and off-platform payment systems. All Canadian travellers entered China using the 30-day visa-free regime introduced in July and registered their stay via the police e-house app—steps that would have required manual paperwork two years ago.
![Canadian Education Mission Kicks Off Travel Day from Shanghai to Beijing Amid Renewed Academic Mobility]()
Upon arrival in Beijing, participants will fold into CCBC’s 47th Annual General Meeting & Business Forum, where immigration specialists from both governments plan to brief schools on new work-permit categories for foreign faculty and streamlined study-permit renewals for Chinese students heading to Canada. China has restored processing times for foreign expert licences to 10 working days, while Canada has trimmed biometrics wait times in Beijing and Chongqing.
For Canadian institutions grappling with demographic headwinds at home, re-establishing brand presence in Tier-1 and Tier-2 Chinese cities is critical. The mission agenda includes matchmaking with provincial education departments and seminars on credit recognition—issues that determine whether Chinese partner universities can resume outbound exchange quotas.
Mobility advisers note that group travel is benefiting from the relaunch of Air Canada’s daily Vancouver–Shanghai flight and China Eastern’s forthcoming Shanghai–Toronto service. Cost-wise, participants paid C$1,500–2,500, which covers local transport, networking events and access to CCBC’s Beijing forum but excludes airfare—a reminder that budgeting must factor in higher international ticket prices still lingering post-COVID.
Delegates spent three days visiting Shanghai-area schools and agents to rebuild pipelines for Chinese undergraduates and joint-degree programmes. Sunday’s travel day is more than logistics: it offers an early test of China’s revamped port-visa and off-platform payment systems. All Canadian travellers entered China using the 30-day visa-free regime introduced in July and registered their stay via the police e-house app—steps that would have required manual paperwork two years ago.
Upon arrival in Beijing, participants will fold into CCBC’s 47th Annual General Meeting & Business Forum, where immigration specialists from both governments plan to brief schools on new work-permit categories for foreign faculty and streamlined study-permit renewals for Chinese students heading to Canada. China has restored processing times for foreign expert licences to 10 working days, while Canada has trimmed biometrics wait times in Beijing and Chongqing.
For Canadian institutions grappling with demographic headwinds at home, re-establishing brand presence in Tier-1 and Tier-2 Chinese cities is critical. The mission agenda includes matchmaking with provincial education departments and seminars on credit recognition—issues that determine whether Chinese partner universities can resume outbound exchange quotas.
Mobility advisers note that group travel is benefiting from the relaunch of Air Canada’s daily Vancouver–Shanghai flight and China Eastern’s forthcoming Shanghai–Toronto service. Cost-wise, participants paid C$1,500–2,500, which covers local transport, networking events and access to CCBC’s Beijing forum but excludes airfare—a reminder that budgeting must factor in higher international ticket prices still lingering post-COVID.
