This is from ODWire:
The recent college of Ontario bulletin reveals that between May 1, 2010 and Feb. 28, 2011 Ontario licensed 111 optometrists an exponentially higher number than any previous time period. And this is just for Ontario.
32 USA-educated;
IOBP 28;
2 University of Montreal;
the rest are from UW and some of them graduated years ago and are now returning to practice in Ontario.
We will continue to see an increase in USA-educated ODs in the years to come (see bottom). A number of IOBP grads are Canadians that have gone abroad to UK, Australia or the Carribean to return via IOBP.
Of the IOBP on this list of 111: only 3 are UK-trained, 1 Australia , 1 S. Africa . 17 are foreign ophthalmologists, 11 are optometry trained.
There are over 100 international grads licensed in Ontario alone. What is surprising is that almost half are foreign ophthalmologists, including the 2 IOBP success stories Dr. Cooper describes in the UW newsletter from the fall of 2008 (one had his license suspended in Jan. 2011).
IOBP by country of education: 26% from the mid east ( Iraq , Iran , Egypt ), but mainly Iraq/Egypt significant majority are ophthalmologists; 24% educated in the UK , mainly Bradford (all optometrists); 12% from India (half are ophthalmologists); 11% China almost all are ophthalmologists); others are from S. Africa, Australia , Nigeria , Columbia , Venezuela , Philippines .
Ironically, it is the foreign ophthalmologists who are more likely to be working for Walmart or Hakim despite having less experience in refraction.
Interesting that 7% list as N/A regarding their equivalency, so they did not even have to take IOBP. One indicates on her website that she just emigrated and wrote her exams to license 2004. A similar number indicate a Comparable OD Degree isnt ACOE the only authourity to determine equivalency to a NA OD degree?
A number of them use inappropriate terms in describing their education credentials on resumes and online: O.D.; UW Optometry Class of 20__ Doctor of Optometry, ect.
There are a few foreign ophthalmologists who keep all their foreign credentials after their name and have added O.D. even though they have never taken an optometry degree program in their home country. Technically, IOBP grads cannot use O.D. or state they have an optometry degree from UW; IOBP grads are merely allowed to use the Doctor title and call themselves optometrists.
A number of them seem to be unaware of this. To the public all IOBP grads are equal to NA OD's.
According to:
http://www.opted.org in 2008-09:
There were 410 Canadians in US optometry schools, 111 enrolled in first year. Current stats on the 2009-10 school year indicate 414 Canadians with 99 enrolled in first year.