With the goal of “enhancing the quality and experience of Canadian education for international students”, CBIE has partnered with provincial governments and regional international education organisations such as EduNova.
The partnership will “train trusted agents to build their capacity to provide quality support to prospective students considering Canada as a learning destination”, said Melissa Toupin-Laforge, associate director, research and learning at CBIE.
The news follows the development and delivery of education recruitment agent training programs for the province of Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada to multiple cohorts in 2022 and 2023.
EduNova, the cooperative association of educational providers in the province of Nova Scotia, launched their first agent training programs in English to boost recruitment efforts post-pandemic, while also taking the first steps toward creation of an ethical framework for international student recruitment in the province.
“We wanted to make sure that […] Nova Scotia [was] going to be a leader in creating a gold standard for how agents would be working with parents and stakeholders” said Shawna Garrett, president and CEO of EduNova.
Positive agent and institution feedback following the first offerings of the program led to expansion of the program to the Atlantic Canadian region and then development of an advanced level of training. To date, 65 agents have completed Level 1 and 36 have completed Level 2.
Faced with low study permit approval rates for French-language institutions in Atlantic Canada, EduNova, with the sponsorship of Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, identified a Francophone training program as a possible solution.
Only 15% of Canada’s Francophones, or approximately one million users of French as a first language, live outside the province of Quebec. Atlantic Canada has an important but nonetheless minority Francophone population of just over 270,000, with six postsecondary institutions which deliver programming in French in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.
French-language K-12 programming and French as a second or additional language courses are also offered in the region.
We wanted to make sure that Nova Scotia was going to be a leader in creating a gold standard for how agents would be working with parents and stakeholders
Shawna Garrett
Modelled on the English-language program, this four-module certificate covers the foundation of Canada’s immigration system and study permit process. With regards to its coverage of Canada’s regional differences, Garrett says it has been tailored to the “unique landscape and institutions of Atlantic Canada”.
Ethical practice of recruitment agents is a timely topic in international education in Canada and elsewhere. According to Toupin-Laforge, the program is “underpinned by the professional and ethical obligations of education recruitment agents and the ways in which they can support students with competence and integrity.”
Identification and recruitment of up to 34 interested agents to participate in the program is underway, and the training will take place in late July.
A Global Affairs Canada sectoral paper published in 2023 as part of the renewal process of Canada’s International Education Strategy emphasises French-speaking international students as key to the vitality of Francophone minority communities. French-language institutions outside Quebec “help to advance the government of Canada’s objective to better preserve and protect bilingualism in Canada”.
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