In the summer, Paragon Testing (a subsidiary of the University of British Columbia) announced that it had signed an agreement with the National Education Examinations Authority of the Chinese Ministry of Education to deliver the Canadian Academic English Test in the People’s Republic of China.
Category: English Central Blog
UQAM develops app for new Canadians
The Universite du Quebec a Montreal is developing a new app to consolidate all the resources and services newcomers need into one place. The app will help newcomers find housing, sign their kids up for school, open a bank account and the like. The app is supposed to be ready in November this year.
Read more in the Montreal Journal (if you read French).
City councillor claims international students partly to blame for low vacancy rate
The city of Kingston in Ontario has an extremely low rental housing rate of 0.6%. While the city struggles to come up with a solution to the problem, one city councillor is arguing that an important factor that is being ignored is the large number of international students in the city.
Read more on Global News.
San Diego State University lays off all full-time ESL teachers
Teachers were expecting some layoffs because of declining enrolment, but were apparently shocked to find out that all full-time teachers were being let go. Classes will continue and the American language Institute will not close. Part-time teachers have been recruited to teach, making it clear that the university was looking to slash the costs of benefits that go along with full-time jobs.
Read more in The Pie News.
International student arrested for working too much
An international student in Ontario was arrested by the OPP when it was discovered that he had been working more than the 20 hours a week that those in the country on a student visa are allowed to work. The student has said that his expenses as an international student became too much for his family back home to afford and so he needed to work more.
Read more on Global News.
New competency-bridging program for internationally trained nurses
Trent University and Fleming College are working together to develop a new program to help internationally trained nurses become registered nurses in Ontario. They have received $2 million in funding from the provincial government. Ontario currently has a shortage of nurses.
Read more in The Peterborough Examiner.
Provincially-mandated tuition decrease for domestic students to be offset by tuition increases for international students
While the Ontario government recently said that tuition for post-secondary education must be reduced by 10%, the unspoken directive was to increase tuition or numbers of international students to make up for the shortfall. The University of Windsor has already announced its plans to increase tuition for international students.
Read more on CBC.
The agent fees that universities pay recruiters
If you are curious about how much universities rely on agents for their supply of international students, or if you are curious about how much universities pay these agents, you should read this article on the CBC.
Canada wants more international students
Any reader of this blog will know that various Canadian governments have implemented policies and programs over the past few years to encourage international students to choose Canada as their study location. New initiatives are afoot, with the federal government announcing nearly $148 million over five years to international education; part of that funding is to be dedicated to recruitment.
Read more in the National Post.
Chinese government-sponsored student groups in Canada
There is some controversy around The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), which has many chapters across the west. In October at Thompson Rivers University, students participated in a university parroved military-style flag raising. The groups have been criticized as being steered by Chinese consulates or embassies, which attempt to control Chinese students studying abroad.
Read more in the Prince George Citizen.