Colleges ease way for Indian students to come to Canada.
From left: Melissa Bhagat; Edmonton MP Tim Uppal; Centennial College president Ann Buller; vice president for international partnerships from the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, Paul Brennan; Centennial College student Vishal Member. The federal government made an announcement last Thursday at Centennial College's Progress campus that the community college application process for Indian students hoping to study in Canada has been streamlined.
Staff photo/BRAD PRITCHARD
As part of the federal government's plan to bolster Canada's workforce, acceptance rates for Indian students studying abroad at Canadian colleges has nearly doubled over the past year.
A joint pilot project was launched last April between Canada's visa offices and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) - which has a membership of 150 non-for-profit schools - to increase the number of Indian students studying in Canadian colleges. Twenty schools are participating in the project
According to Paul Brennan, the ACCC's vice-president for international partnerships, the strategy is to keep Canada on top of the global market.
"Foreign students want to come to Canada but it's a very competitive market," Brennan said. "(Other countries) have made it easier to allow foreign students to come study in their country."
He said Canada's intake of international students has remained static over the years, while other countries, like the United States and Australia, have increased their numbers.
"Working together with Immigration Canada and the ACCC in India, we are able to understand each other better and accelerate the approval process so it takes three weeks instead of three months."
Centennial College, with campuses in Scarborough and East York, is one of the schools working with the ACCC and it currently has 1,500 Indian students under its wing.
One of those students is 22-year-old Vishal Member, who is also president of the college's student association. He said the application process desperately needed to be changed.
"When I think back to when I applied to come study in Canada, my visa application process took five months, and there was a lot of paperwork, too," he said. "I'm absolutely delighted to hear the process will be streamlined for students hoping to study here.
"Canada has an excellent reputation in my homeland," he said. "This will assist the next generation of skilled workers and entrepreneurs to come here and learn."
Tim Uppal, an Edmonton MP, spoke on behalf of Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney at a press conference Thursday, Jan. 28 at Centennial's Progress Campus.
"We need a strong workforce to keep our economy competitive," Uppal said. "We want to attract more foreign students to Canada."
In order to maintain the integrity of the project, Uppal said international students will be monitored to make sure they hold up their end of the bargain.
"There are several checks and balances in place," Uppal said.
"Applicants must provide complete and verifiable information. There is also a feedback mechanism where colleges report back on whether students remain in good academic standing. This allows the visa offices to monitor students more easily."
So far, 95 per cent of the most recent intake of students from last September remains in good standing.
In a 2009 report commissioned by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, foreign students contributed $6.5 billion to the economy in 2008. According to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the number of international students studying in Canada has doubled since 1998 to 178,000, and their presence provided employment for more than 83,000 Canadians in 2009.