International Students and Halifax – Some thoughts

[This could be seen as Part 3 of the Gateway Series, but I am not sure what is included in the Gateway and what is not, at this point. So I am 'un'tagging the Gateway to these articles]

Halifax is an University town. With Dal, SMU and Mount, we have three major universities and many more academic institutions around. And they all attract a good amount of international students to their programs. But the sad part of the equation is that we are unable to retain most of these graduates in Halifax or even Nova Scotia. The job situation is probably the most important reason why most people take off from the Province as soon as they graduate and there are higher powers debating on how to improve that situation. I am not going into the economic development part of the problem in this blog, but this is more towards the local community and other agencies (GHP, MISA etc) and what they can do to improve the situation.

The challenges faced by international students are a bit different from those faced by new immigrants. The clue is probably right there in that sentence. International Students are not landed immigrants. The visa status prohibits them from doing work outside the campus etc. I think the universities should be proactive and have sessions on immigration as soon as a new student lands here in Halifax. Immigration is an important process and it also gives them a peace of mind to know that their status in the country is secure. Many western universities send the application forms for immigration along with their student information package. Looking at the feedback from students here, major universities in Halifax still don’t do that.

Students are seldom involved/included in community activities. It is a shame and there is a lot to blame on both parties and all community leaders/organizers (including yours truly) are to be blamed for this. Of course, there is a lot of difference between the interest of students and the local community. But the local community must take steps to welcome the students and make them feel at home. Transportation is often cited as a major problem for students to participate in events. I am sure with some planning and thought, this could be solved.

Speaking specifically of the Indian student population, the situation is pathetic, funny, ironical all at the same time. It is pathetic because there is a large number of students who come here, but still most of them suffer to find accomodation in the first few weeks. They complete their two or three years of study and even at the end of it they are unaware of the major population that is living outside the campus. Even our Indian profs are not helping the situation. Fearing comments about prejudice and favoritism, Indian profs usually stay clear of students from India and limit their interactions to what is required for the study purposes. The student obviously is scared to approach the prof for any other information, especially given the nature of student-teacher relationship in an Indian context.

The student bodies of Indisa and Sisa (not sure if both are in existence now) are often loosely held and even there the friendships are formed among students of Canadian origin, again leaving the new comer or off the boat students out.

Thus, most students take their term in Halifax as some kind of jail time, spend it here, graduate and disappear to Toronto, to be among other community members and start their working life. There is a lot more that could be done here in these terms. But where are the resources? Who wants to take the initiative? Is GHP the right place to start? Maybe.

 Venkatesh.