A mix of 23 public school boards will take part, meeting with Turkish agencies, delegates from the local Canadian consulate, embassy officials and the local media.

Bonnie McKie, executive director of CAPS-I, said: “We would be delighted to welcome more Turkish students into our high schools and elementary programmes.”

“We would be delighted to welcome more Turkish students into our high schools and elementary programs”

Canadian public schools have been accepting international students since the 1980s. Yearly, 20,000 international students attend CAPS-I member institutions (which span 89 public school boards) from elementary to high school.

Fees average around CAN$12,000 a year per student. In British Columbia, the province attracting most international students, K-12 tuition contributed CAN$139m last year.

McKie added that members “offer internationally recognised high school graduation diplomas and work with post-secondary institutions to ensure a successful transition for our international students”.

The trip comes as Canada begins to pull ahead in the international education market, with the government backing clear objectives to increase international enrolments. In 2012 Canada outranked Australia and New Zealand to be the second most attractive destination in the i-graduate ICEF Agent Barometer.

Industry consulting  group, StudentMarketing, is assisting with managing the trip. “Canada is sexy now and they are successful because of quality, competitive pricing and strategic support from government,” CEO Samuel Vetrak told The PIE News.

“Usually there are only 20 institutions participating on these trips but there are 23 which says a lot about their interest to market internationally.”

Registration for Turkish agents opened this week and will run until early March. Organisers hope to attract “several dozen” for each city.

The trip, supported by the Canadian Consulate in Istanbul and the Canadian Embassy in Ankara, will take place April 8-10.