Canada Student Partners Program SPP Continues to Attract Indian Students

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(OPENPRESS) July 8, 2011 -- Until April 2009, there was a big concern among Canadian colleges and universities of not getting students from India as most of the visas were being rejected by the Canadian High Commission, New Delhi. The Student Partners Program (SPP) commonly termed as Students Partnership Program by the students and study abroad consultants in India was implemented in partnership between the Canadian High Commission and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC) and is attracting a good number of students from all over India and is fast emerging as a preferred destination for higher education for overseas students not only from India but from the entire globe.

The number of Indian students enrolled in Canadian universities and educational institutions has steadily grown from 3,000 in 2008 to 18,500 in 2010, according to the Canadian High Commissioner, Stewart G Beck. Primarily, Indian students used to choose places like Vancouver in Canada because of its favourable nature, mild climate and the Indian community stronghold. But, now Indian students are breaking grounds and heading to colleges in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and other cold provinces. Also, Canada’s progressive immigration policies and employment opportunities is turning it into a favourable destination choice for Indian students. Canadian universities offer diverse programmes that range from Commerce to Astronomy, Biology to Fine Art, Media Studies to Theology. Currently, universities and educational institutions in Canada offer more than a 1000 undergraduate and graduate programmes.

The students are cautioned to submit applications on time by 01 August for September intake and by 01 December for January intake while applying under SPP (Student Partners Program). It needs to be noted that SPP students apply to the participating college rather than the program.

To elaborate, SPP was started as a pilot project with plans to test a model for expediting the student visa process and delivering higher approval rates while maintaining program integrity. All Study Permit application checklists have been revised and improved as a result of the SPP framework to help students make simpler applications and Canadian High Commission informed decisions.

Tejal Laul, Director of Kampus Landing a leading overseas education consultant from Gujarat says, “There is a northward trend on the number of Indian students showing interest in studying in Canada. SPP requires students to have IELTS scores only. TOEFL is not valid for filing student visa under SPP though the students are eligible to file under general category. Strangely, even the Canadian colleges and universities prefer IELTS and students with TOEFL score find very few choices. We have experienced almost 100% success rate with IELTS but somehow students filing under general category with TOEFL scores have been scrutinized closely by Canadian High Commission and even the brightest of the students have faced rejection. You are strongly advised to file under Student Partners Program and avoid filing with TOEFL scores under general category.”

Further, Tejal Laul says, “The quality of education is very good in all community colleges and one should not rush just to Toronto or Vancouver, there’s a lot of advantages studying at provinces in Quebec and Manitoba. The students’ Canada PR application is fast tracked if filed under Provincial Nominee Program. Colleges offer unique “co-operative education programmes” that allow students to work while studying. Apart from regular courses such as a Bachelor’s in Business Administration (Accounting/ Financial services) and Bachelor’s in Sciences, a few even offer new-age courses — Animal Health Technology, Geology, Financial Services Management, Office Administration Certificates, Basic Musicianship, Intercultural and International Studies, Professional Writing, Stagecraft, Performing and Fine Arts, Associate of Arts degree — to name a few. Students studying under government-funded institutions can get up to a three-year work permit, leading to permanent residency. Finance, banking and investment are the emerging fields in Canada and present a promising future in the country. Jobs in Computer Science offer good pay and there is ample job opportunity for talented and skilled professionals. Aerospace, Urban Transport, Microelectronics, Advanced Software, Hydroelectric and Nuclear Power, Lasers and Opto-electronics, Biotechnology, Food and Beverage Processing, Geomatics, Ocean and Environmental Industries are other lucrative courses on offer. Typically, most universities offer four-year undergraduate programmes. The degree awarded is general or specialised. An Honours (bacca-laureate) programme may be harder as more courses have to be completed in the same period of time, compared to a regular Bachelor’s programme in the same discipline. Community colleges and technical institutes in Canada offer programmes that enable students to get a job by meeting the needs of employers or industry.”

Regarding mature students applying under SPP, Tejal Laul says, “Canada welcomes mature students’ applications, one can file at the age of 35 but should have a genuine reason to study at this age in Canada. If the mature student is not able to provide ample of evidence, the application is more likely to be rejected. We have had several applications between 30 and 35 which have successfully received Canada student visas under SPP and are presently studying in Canada.”

On the question on ethics of study abroad consultants in India, Tejal Laul says, “The study abroad consulting industry in India is not regulated like China and UAE where study abroad consultant needs a license by the Ministry of Education to operate. The Indian Government needs to regulate the study abroad consulting industry and save hundreds from being duped by unscrupulous agents.”

She adds, “After successfully experimenting SPP in India, Canadian government has initiated the Student Partners program SPP in China. There are already 50,000 students from China studying in Canada and the number is expected to grow tremendously.”

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Professional Free Press Release News Wire

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Indian students turn to Canada following Australian backlash

Image via WikipediaNEW DELHI—Vipin Sehajpal has worked for the past two years at a call centre on the outskirts of India’s capital, helping frustrated Dell computer owners solve technical problems.
But when he connects with a caller from Canada, the 26-year-old pauses before dispensing advice to pose a few questions of his own.
“I mostly ask about the weather, food and what life is like,” Sehajpal says.
It’s knowledge he plans to put to use in a few weeks.
Barring last-minute problems, Sehajpal will be leaving India in late December to enroll in a two-year website design course at Lambton College in Sarnia.
His pursuit of a Canadian education highlights a growing trend in India.
While Canada for years was regarded of as a sad-sack afterthought by India’s brightest college-aged students, that perception is changing fast. The number of Indian college and university students studying in Canada has surged fourfold over the past three years.
Canadian diplomats say they expect to issue student visas to as many as 14,000 Indian students this year and perhaps more than 20,000 in 2011.
In 2008, Canada approved just 3,152 visas to Indian students.
The increase comes as Canadian schools strengthen ties in India, which is among the world’s most promising markets for international students and higher education. Nearly one-third of India’s 1.2 billion population is under the age of 15 and the country’s 50 million strong middle class is expected to grow 10 times by 2025.
At the same time, the Canadian government has pledged to triple two-way trade with India to $15 billion over the next three years and adding international students will help. A recent Canadian government study showed the average international student adds $25,000 to the local economy.
David Manicom, a diplomat who heads the immigration department at Canada’s mission in New Delhi, said he was flummoxed when a group of Canadian university presidents recently toured India and spoke publicly about their efforts to coax Ottawa to increase its $1 million global budget for marketing post-secondary education. Australia, university officials pointed out, spends $20 million a year.
“The truth is that we’ve already come a long way in a very short time,” Manicom said. “The perception is that we’re trailing Australia still but that couldn’t be father from the truth.”
Manicom said there are several reasons for the dramatic increase.
For starters, unlike some other Western countries, many foreign college and university students who study in Canada gain credit towards becoming a permanent resident.
But Manicom and Canadian college officials say an overhaul of Canada’s student visa program is more responsible for the turnabout. For the past two years, the Canadian mission in New Delhi has partnered with 38 Canadian colleges to create the so-called Student Partners Program.
Under the program, colleges work more closely with the Canadian mission to understand which students will likely be approved for visas.
For instance, schools now insist students submit grades from the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS, which is run by a British group. In past years, students would provide results from a number of less reputable English proficiency testing agencies.
The mission also demands students provide financial guarantees from chartered Indian banks.
“We had cases where a student would say they had an uncle with fields of rice paddy who was willing to promise to cover their school costs and other instances where families had the value of their gold assessed as proof of their financial wherewithal,” Manicom said. “It was totally unreliable.”
Manicom said the high commission is also working more closely with schools to winnow out immigration agents who recruit under-qualified students.
Since the student visa program’s overhaul two years ago, the approval rate for Indian students applying to Centennial College has climbed to 87 per cent from 37 per cent and the number of Indian students at the Toronto school has climbed to 1,400 from 350.
“In past years, the biggest complaint we had was that it took too long for students to have their visas processed, but it’s much less cumbersome now,” said Virginia Macciavello, an official with Centennial.
Canada is also making inroads in India thanks to a public relations disaster for Australia’s educators.
While Australia has drawn more than 90,000 Indian students annually in recent years (the U.S. attracts about 105,000 Indian overseas students a year), the number of students here applying for visas to Australia has plunged by 80 per cent, Western diplomats say.
Over the past two years, Indian media have furiously chased stories about racial attacks on Indian students in Australia. There were 14 attacks during one five-week stretch in 2009, with TV channels running incendiary headlines such as “Curry Bashing” and “Australia, Land of Racists.”
Manicom conceded that Canadian officials “watched what was happening with Australia and we knew there would be some backwash.”
But Macciavello said she isn’t worried about a similar imbroglio in Canada.
“We’ve been recruiting overseas students for 30 years and we just haven’t seen any problems like that,” she said. “Canada’s just much more multicultural.”
Canadian schools also demand high IELTS test score, sometimes as high as 6.5 out of 9, to root out less qualified students who might drop out for a grey-market job. Some schools in the U.K., by contrast, demand a 4.5 IELTS score, meaning students would probably struggle to understand classes taught in English.
On a recent afternoon, Sehajpal and several other potential students crowded into an immigration agent Bhagirath Bhardwaj’s office in the heart of New Delhi.
Bhardwaj, who is paid a commission of about $150 for every student he sends abroad, said Canada is becoming a much more popular destination for students from the Indian capital region.
“I think there’s an understanding here that the Canadian economy is outperforming others and there’s a real opportunity there,” Bhardwaj.
“Immigrants have a real chance in Canada because you have such an aging population. The average Canadian is 44, which the average American is 34 and the average Indian is 26.”
Aayezah Jameel, a 30-year-old single mother, said she’s been researching Canadian schools for the past year and is now saving up, with the hopes of traveling to Canada for studies in the spring of 2012.
“When you’re a mother, planning like this takes time, nothing happens fast,” she said. “It’s a big commitment and a big deal for me because I’ll be asking my mother in Bhopal to watch my daughter for me while I’m overseas.”
Jameel, whose English was flawless, said considered schools like U.C.L.A. and the University of Texas before shifting her gaze to Canada.
“There’s really no difference with Canadian schools except they cost less,” she said. “The faculty and curriculum are just as good. I know. I’ve checked.”
Sitting next to his mother, Sehajpal, who also has a computer science degree from Agra University, said his parents forbid him from going to school in Australia. Instead, he considered schools in the U.S. and U.K. and Canada.
“Canada has a bright future and I’m excited about the possibility of staying there after school for a job,” Sehajpal said. “I’ve never seen snow before. What’s that like?”

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