Costa Rica showcases its selection of educational services at the NAFSA 2023 Annual Conference & Expo

The Costa Rican foreign trade promoter, PROCOMER, in conjunction with the universities Veritas, UH, UC, UIA, ULACIT, UISIL and UNIBE, and the Consorcio Global Edu promotes the Costa Rican education proposals to professionals from more than 100 countries at the trade fair for education, NAFSA 2023, taking place from May 30 to June 2 in Washington D.C., USA.

This trade fair, aimed at the higher education sector, brings together hundreds of experts representing academic institutions, consulting companies, suppliers, and other stakeholders of great importance to the sector, thus offering the chance to address issues pertaining to the internationalization of educational services in Costa Rica.

The Costa Rican delegation presents itself at the country stand,Esencial COSTA RICA, with business programs for each participant and where the delegation provides information on the Costa Rican higher education proposals.

The goal of participating in NAFSA is to discover emerging trends in student mobility, establish new relationships with university partners,create networking opportunities in education, and identify global market needs.

“For us as a country, taking advantage of the largest international education showcase in the world opens doors to opportunities to create and strengthen excellent strategic relationships with the main partners and decision makers of international universities. This then allows us to find new ways of working together through research, double degrees, Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), and exchange programs, among others. In addition to learning about new trends and promoting our education proposals, NAFSA allows us to reaffirm Costa Rica’s position as a prime destination in Latin America for students from the United States, according to the organization, Study Abroad,” said Mario Sáenz, Exports Development Principal Director at PROCOMER.

Currently, Costa Rica stands out for its focus on sustainability and the stewardship of the environment as part of its education proposal, aspects that have been differentiating Costa Rica from other destinations, contributing to its positioning worldwide.

“For Universidad Central, it’s their first time participating in NAFSA. PROCOMER has helped us immensely and has allowed us to visualize the importance of international presence, especially for Universidad Central, which, to date, has only been developing in educational internationalization for one year. PROCOMER has always extended its hand to us and, thanks to that, we have been able to generate contacts with universities around the world, both in Europe and America. It has been a pleasure to have their help, and we hope to continue working together,” commented Jean Carlo Monge, Managing Director of International Affairs at Universidad Central.

On this occasion, Costa Rican institutions will meet with international entities such as: Universidad de Alicante; Mohawk College; Universidad ICESI; Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC); LEA Global Pathways; Sungshin Women’s University; University of Utah; Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola; University of California, Berkeley; University of Delaware; University of Michigan; University of Nebraska Omaha; Universitat Politecnica Valencia; Université du Québec; York Univeristy; and others.

According to data from the Central Bank of Costa Rica, at the end of 2020, a reported 33% of foreign students from the United States chose Costa Rica as a destination to pursue their university degrees, in addition to 9% from Canada, 13% from Europe, and 6% from Latin American countries.