{"id":18749,"date":"2019-12-13T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T17:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=18749"},"modified":"2020-01-17T12:01:29","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T20:01:29","slug":"camosun-college-and-student-society-address-international-students-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/12\/13\/camosun-college-and-student-society-address-international-students-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun College and student society address international students\u2019 concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is part 2 of a 2-part story looking at the challenges international students face at Camosun College. Part 1 featured international students talking about their concerns<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Camosun International manager of student services Gulcan Barclay says that the college has been talking with international insurance providers GuardMe about the possibility to extend the three-month period that international students are registered for health insurance. This would give students more time to transition to the provincial government\u2019s health-care insurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe start reminding them, \u2018As soon as you arrive you need to apply for MSP, you don\u2019t need to wait three months, just apply for MSP and when you\u2019re eligible they\u2019re going to send the documentation,\u2019 because we don\u2019t want them having a break between so the [GuardMe] expires and they haven\u2019t applied for MSP. We really want that transition to be seamless,\u201d says Barclay. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to improve that communication so that students know about it, and we\u2019ve been talking with GuardMe for maybe the possibility to extend that duration so it gives them more time to transition to MSP.We really want them to be safe and covered.\u201d<\/p>\n

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There are 19,000 international students at Camosun College (file photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barclay says that it\u2019s impossible to bundle the MSP charges into the student fees and stresses that students need to apply for their own MSP.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s their responsibility to apply for MSP, because we cannot apply on their behalf,\u201d she says. \u201cIf we could, we would have done that, but we can\u2019t charge for it, that\u2019s for government. It has nothing to do with Camosun and the fees we\u2019re collecting.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as extended support for international students throughout the semester\u2014a concern I heard from students\u2014Barclay says that the college is here to help the students.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything they can think about\u2014and there\u2019s no stupid question\u2014we are always here to support them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Barclay says that there are lots of services available for those who seek them out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s academic support, help centers, advising, counselling\u2026 We try to reach out to students, but until they come, it\u2019s really hard to figure out what they are going through,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) international director Melaniia Frolova is interested in the idea of implementing more orientation programs throughout the semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thinking about it now,\u201d she says. \u201cWe think it\u2019s possible, because we have a lot of people who are interested in it. I think it just depends on suggestions; if I suggest it to my team, I hope that they support me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frolova says that students who feel like they haven\u2019t gotten enough from Camosun\u2019s international student orientation should try to connect with a Camosun counsellor.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, my counsellor helped more than orientation,\u201d she says. \u201cI think it\u2019s a good way to solve this problem, if all international students have a good counsellor who can help students solve all their problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barclay says that there is a possibility for the college to hold more orientation events throughout the term.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely, especially because students usually have a lot of study\u00a0permit, work permit questions, we are working on expanding those for workshops,\u201d says Barclay. \u201cWe do housing\u00a0workshops when Immigration [Refugees and Citizenship] Canada comes; we invite students to come to those. We do\u00a0registration workshops in case students don\u2019t know how to register. One issue with that is that\u00a0students\u2014it depends on if the students at that point are interested in that specific subject\u2014usually don\u2019t come. So we can say, \u2018This is the day we\u2019re going to talk about this subject,\u2019 you see maybe\u00a0two or three students coming, but it\u2019s not like big crowds showing up. I think it\u2019s tough to get the interest\u00a0sometimes\u2026 If they approach us\u2014for example, we had a student who said \u2018I\u2019m from\u00a0Mexico, I want to do something about the Day of the Dead\u2019\u2014we\u2019re happy to support them to put the event on. There\u2019s always room for improvement, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The social chasm between domestic and international students was discussed in our previous article, and Barclay agrees that that\u2019s one of the biggest issues international students face.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a Peer Connections group,\u201d she says. \u201cMostly international students come, but we have domestic students, so that provides opportunities to connect with each other and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Barclay says that even when domestic students express interest in reaching out, international students often tend to stick with their peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more comfortable, safer for them maybe, so it\u2019s very challenging for domestic students to break that,\u201d she says. \u201cIt goes both ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frolova agrees that integration between domestic and international students is a common problem and says that a possible solution would be to have more activities that are of interest to both domestic and international students, providing more opportunities for natural interaction between the two demographics.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it will be good to organize more activities for all students, because, for example, my country, we have a lot of activities for all students, more than we have here, unfortunately,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the big differences in my country\u2019s organization and the organization here, because students here just don\u2019t communicate with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frolova believes that finding common experiences and shared interests between students is a good way to narrow the communication barrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s also better if you have not clubs but opportunities to communicate maybe in other points, not only in languages,\u201d she says. \u201cAlso, it will be good to find some things that are common for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frolova says that the CCSS is starting to look into expanding social opportunities for international students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn comparison to my country, there are not so many activities and supports, and I hope we will develop that in a short time, but truthfully, I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s good now. But it\u2019s good that we understand it and we try to solve this problem,\u201d she says. \u201cWe could organize more opportunities for communication, to try to organize more social projects to pay attention to problems which are common for all students and try to solve it in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest challenge for foreign students is the communication barrier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think you need a little bit of time in the culture,\u201d says Barclay. \u201cIt will come slowly\u2014you need to be here a while and experience it to get that knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most common grievance we heard from students was that tuition costs are so much higher for international students, but Barclay says that the situation is not so black and white. She points out that there are invisible costs\u2014in the form of taxes\u2014for local students. Additionally, tuition for domestic students is largely subsidized by the government, which is a benefit not available to international students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a domestic student, you pay taxes, so your education is funded through that,\u201d she says, \u201cbut international students are not taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A related complaint is that international tuition is charged on a per-semester, rather than a per-credit, basis, so that an international student will pay the same amount regardless of whether they enrol in three, four, or five courses in a semester, which may be perceived as unfair. Barclay says she understands how students could be frustrated but looks at the fee structure in a different way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the price is set for three, four courses, so they are kind of getting an extra course for free,\u201d Barclay says. \u201cBut I understand frustration from the student\u2019s perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frolova recommends that international students who are frustrated with high tuition fees consider the bigger picture with regard to the enhanced opportunities that studying in Canada provides.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like Canada and I think it\u2019s one of the countries that provides more opportunities,\u201d she says. \u201cFor example, when we become domestic students\u2014when we become residents after two years\u2014we get a lot of opportunities compared to other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frolova regrets that more students don\u2019t know about the CCSS and what it provides, and thinks that there could be more opportunities for students to become familiar with the student society and to volunteer in a wide variety of ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will be glad if more students will be involved in our opportunities, because in my country, it\u2019s more like volunteering, everybody can take part and engage in opportunities\u2014it could be open for more people who want to join us, it would be really good,\u201d she says. \u201cLike, for example, with [CCSS] elections this year, not everybody knows about the CCSS and what is that actually and what do we do. This [is] something like a secret now, but I will be glad if everybody knows about us and what we do and will be glad to join whenever they want, not only when we need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barclay says that she and her colleagues really do empathize with international students\u2019 struggle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe care for them, you know? We\u2019ve all travelled the roads, we are mostly coming from other countries ourselves,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are previous students, so we really understand what they are going through. So the aim is to support them; if there is a need, we would like to be able to assist them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is part 2 of a 2-part story looking at the challenges international students face at Camosun College. Part 1 featured international students talking about their concerns. Camosun International manager of student services Gulcan Barclay says that the college has been talking with international insurance providers GuardMe about the possibility to extend the three-month period […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18749"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18855,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18749\/revisions\/18855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}