ApplyProof, a platform powered by ApplyBoard, has partnered with ETS and Pearson Education to make English language test scores easily verifiable. By enabling efficient verification of international student documentation, ApplyProof aims to make admission and study permit application processes more efficient.
Read the press release.
Unique for Canadian EAP programs, the Trent University senate has jsut voted to approve that its two highest ESL courses – formerly known as Foundations for university I and II – will now count as elective courses towards its university degrees.
Read more in PIE news.
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.
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.
While the number of Indian students studying in Canada has surpassed the number of Chinese, the growth of Vietnamese students is stunning. 2017 saw an 89% increase, while 2018 saw another 46% increase over 2017 with over 20,000 students. The four year increase from 2015 to 2018 was 419%!
Read more in University World News.
The Vancouver Sun reports that there are many female international students, particularly from the Punjab region of India, who are dealing with sexual harassment from landlords and exploitation from employers. These women come from a poor region and in many cases their family has sold everything they have to send them to Canada. While here, the money they came with often turns out to be insufficient and they feel the need to make additional money. They therefore often work more than their work permits allow, offer sexual services to landlords and get involved in the drug trade (this is true of male students as well). Afraid of being deported, they do not report these problems.
Read more in The Vancouver Sun.
Last year, there were 172,000 Indian students with study visas in Canada while there were 142,000 Chinese students. The number of Chinese students last year was up by 30%, which points to the incredible resent surge of Indian students. The cheaper Canadian dollar helps, but more important is the greater ease in receiving work permits and a path to citizenship. Canada has Donald Trump to thank, partly at least, as the US is proposing stricter issuance of foreign-worker visas.
Read more in The Globe and Mail.
With the recent diplomatic spats with China and Saudi Arabia, Canadian post-secondary institutions are increasingly aware of how vulnerable they are to global affairs. A professor at UPEI says that with 25% of their student body being international students from China, an escalation of tensions threatens the finances of the institution and the local economy. He makes the sensible argument that diversification is essential so that should one nation should cease to send students, universities and the local businesses that serve them will not be threatened.
Read more in The Journal Pioneer/ The Guardian.
