In what is undoubtedly good news for Canadian colleges and universities, it was announced on Friday that international students that have been kept out of the country because of the pandemic will be able to qualify for work permits even if they complete all of their studies online from out of the country.
Read more in The Star.
Washington State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has made it a goal to implement dual-language instruction in elementary schools across the state. The second language would not be the same everywhere; instead, it would be determined by local districts based on what would best serve their students.
Read more.
Recent surveys have shown that since the beginning of the pandemic, Canada has improved its desirability for international students. Viewed as both “safe and stable” and “open and welcoming”, Canada is now competing with the UK for top spot. We will point out that this means Canada has overtaken the US in this area.
Read more in CIC News.
While many of you may already be teaching online, there are many teachers who have been left unemployed by the pandemic. We came across a helpful article in the EL Gazette with information on how to get work teaching online, as well as tips on how to teach online.
Read Teaching Online.
Statistics Canada crunched some numbers related to the devastating impact of the pandemic on the national education scene.
Read more from Stats Canada.
As of October 20th, international students are again allowed into Canada provided that they are studying with an institution that has an approved covid-19 readiness plan. It will be interesting to see how quickly students return.
We should take this opportunity to give a shout-out to Languages Canada. They have been working hard since the outset of the pandemic to work with the government to advance the interests of this industry which, as we all know, has been hit particularly hard by this pandemic. They have pointed out that over 75% of English and French programs are at risk of permanently closing and that with international students contributing $22 billion to the economy every year, Canada needs international students as well. They developed the Study Safe Corridor, a well-thought out plan, that would ensure that students could get to Canada for their studies, ensuring that they depart safe, arrive safe and study safe.
Read more about the new regulations.
Read more about Languages Canada’s efforts.
Simon Fraser University and Navitas, which operates the Fraser International College on the SFU campus, have signed an agreement to extend their current partnership until 2030.
Read more on the SFU blog.
Mega private langauge school ILAC has aquired two British Columbia colleges : Canadian Tourism College and Sterling College. ILAC recently created a Higher Education division and will be offering programs in tourism, hospitality, nursing and business. The two colleges were acquired to strengthen this new division.
Read more on the ILAC blog.
Stats Canada recently revealed that the school year of 2017/2018 was the third consecutive year of increases in enrolment and graduation from postsecondary institutions. Our readers will not be surprised to also learn that this growth was largely attributable to international students, whose numbers increased 15.6%. The increase in domestic students was much more modest at 0.2%.
Read more from StatsCan.
It is probably a good bet that a larger than average percentage of ELT professionals are concerned about climate change. Well, a recent article in Inside Higher Ed puts the spotlight on international education and the large carbon footprint that it has. Possible solutions are suggested – including students staying home – but that leaves ELT professionals between a rock and a hard place.
Read more on IHE.
