Source: Academica
Students from India have supplanted Chinese students as the biggest international cohort on Canadian campuses.
citizenship
Canada Beckons International Students With a Path to Citizenship
Source: New York Times
At the College of the North Atlantic here, a young Chinese woman stood discussing her future with two fellow students, a Bangladeshi man and a Korean woman, amid a flow of mostly pale Newfoundlanders in down coats and hoodies heading for class.
Canada: “A Place of Stability, of Openness, of Inclusiveness”
Source: Times Higher Education via Academica
Canada’s decision to welcome thousands of Syrian refugees “stands out as an important symbol” of the country’s “openness and eagerness to attract newcomers,” says University of Toronto President Meric Gertler in an interview with Times Higher Education. Gertler highlights a number of significant steps Canada has taken to be open compared to the isolationist tendencies of Brexit and the Donald Trump presidential campaign. These include Canada’s efforts to attract 450,000 international students by 2022, its amendments to its citizenship process for international students, and its increased investment in research and scientific infrastructure. “Canada has certainly emerged as a place of stability, of openness, of inclusiveness,” says Gertler. “I think we’re doing many things right now that will position us as a stark alternative to things that are happening in other countries, including the UK and the US.”
Canada: Internal Reviews Uncover Delays in Visa Processing
Source: The PIE News
Canada’s visa woes continue as multiple internal government reviews have revealed delays and errors in visa processing, seeing processing times increase by a third for study permits and double for permanent residence permits.
Members of the Canadian Bureau for International Education are “deeply concerned about the ballooning processing times that affect both their current and prospective students”, according to its vice-president, membership, public policy and communications, Jennifer Humphries.
“Timeliness, or its opposite, makes a huge difference in the choices that students make for their future,” she told The PIE News.
“To achieve the ambitions of Canada’s International Education Strategy, it is critical that government departments work together cohesively and make their shared objectives the priority, not departmental interests,” she urged. “It’s also critical that sufficient resources be allocated to deliver on the objectives.”
To read the full article, please visit The PIE News.
New Immigration Stream in NS Will Help Employers Hire International Students
Source: ChronicleHerald via Academica
Nova Scotia has introduced a new immigration stream that will help skilled applicants who have been working in the province for at least a year settle there permanently. “What we’ve heard from the universities and the colleges and the business community is that [workers] are falling through the cracks. They had jobs but [companies] couldn’t nominate them through the federal stream,” said NS Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab. It is hoped that the new express stream will encourage employers to target more international student graduates for hiring.
CICan Signs Agreement for Second Phase of Canadian Immigrant Integration Program
Source: CICan News Release via Academica
Colleges and Institutes Canada has signed a 2-year agreement with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to move forward with a second phase of the Canadian Immigrant Integration Program (CIIP). As part of the initiative, CICan will collaborate with the International Organization for Migration to expand pre-arrival services and to ensure consistent curricula and materials worldwide; CICan will also work with the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne (ACUFC) to provide access to pre-arrival services for French-speaking immigrants coming to francophone-minority communities.