New Langara advertising campaign is aimed at attracting more domestic students as international student numbers drop
The ads are placed in high-traffic locations such as SkyTrain stations and malls across Metro Vancouver
By AMBER MONIZ
As Langara College struggles with declining international student enrolment, a new advertising campaign is targeting domestic students in Metro Vancouver.
Launched in fall 2024, a mix of print and digital advertisements posted in SkyTrain stations and malls highlight the student experience at Langara, trumpeting engaged instructors and small class sizes.
Adam Brayford, communications director at Langara, said that the goal of the advertising campaign is to broaden Langara’s reach with the local community. He said the college advertises to a broad range of audiences but “most of our efforts are domestic.”
“What we wanted to do is reintroduce Langara to the community, to parents, to students,” Brayford said.
Urvi, a third-year business management student at Langara, said she chose Langara because of the good reviews she had heard.
“Langara is kind of a mix, where you get everything with a small class size, but then at the same time, you get exposure,” said Urvi, who is also featured in the advertisement.
She also said she has noticed a considerable difference between Langara’s past advertising efforts and the current campaign, adding that she had previously noticed other institutions more.
“This is the first time that [Langara is] putting so much funds and so much effort into this,” Urvi said.
Langara community concerned about the future of Langara programs
Julian Ang, a third-year accounting student at Langara, says that he’s had students in lower years ask him for advice when courses they were planning on taking got cancelled.
Ang also said that the changes in the school of management have had a bigger impact on lower year and incoming students.
“I see a lot of uncertainty right now with students who are going into or planning to go into BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration),” said Ang.
According to an email from Langara president Paula Burns, previous declines in domestic students were offset by increasing international student numbers. But because of recent federal government policy changes capping international enrolment, Langara saw a decline of 1,400 students in spring 2025 compared to spring 2024.
The college is also facing a back-to-back fiscal year deficit following the decline in international student enrolment, announced at a town hall meeting last Thursday.
The advertising campaign responds to these struggles.
Langara remains under the radar for some domestic students
Sofia Hamid, a Langara student featured in the advertisements, said that many domestic students don’t see Langara as a top choice for post-secondary education.
“Prior to coming to Langara, I never heard of it,” Hamid said.
Hamid said she thinks that the changes in student enrolment will be “noticeable in the next year or two.”
Andrew Egan, an environmental studies instructor at Langara, said the drop in enrolment has him worried about the future of many programs at Langara.
“I think that society should be very concerned about the quality of education that’s being provided at different institutions as a result of demand,” said Egan, who also said that he has seen cuts in courses in his department due to lack of enrolment.