Kauei Badel, a first-year bio-technician student from India, at Loyalist College. Photo by Mariia Khanenko, QNet News
By Mariia Khanenko [1]
BELLEVILLE — A record 800 international students are currently enrolled at Loyalist College.
Kauei Badel, a first-year bio-technician student says the reason she chose Loyalist is because it has a large Indian population.
“I was searching about Belleville and I knew there are many opportunities here for people from my background.”
The biggest population of international students does come from India. However, every year more students from countries including Albania, Peru, Jamaica, Kenya, Uganda, Barbados, Philippines, Germany, the U.K., Colombia, Brazil, Japan, the U.S., Rwanda, Lebanon, South Africa, South Korea, Ghana and Zambia choose Loyalist College for studies.
Gurshir Singh, a first year sales and marketing student, finds Belleville a perfect place to live and study.
“I chose Loyalist because of Belleville, because it is a very quiet place and I like these kind of places. I don’t want to go to the big city because life is very fast [there].”
Jodie Russett, manager of international education, says, “I think it’s great for the campus and for the community to have the diversity and these students coming to our area. I think it’s something we need to celebrate and be excited about.”
Gurshir Singh, a first year sales and marketing student, works on his school assignment. Photo by Mariia Khanenko, QNetNews
Roughly 200 more international students are expected in January. At the moment many of them are waiting for their visa approval.
Over 300 new international students were enrolled last year, with half of them coming in January. That number doubled from the year before.
“In fact, the college has met the international enrolment goal for 2020, well ahead of the plan,” said Loyalist President & CEO Ann Marie Vaughan.
With 2, 679 students enrolled at Loyalist College in 2017-18, international students make up 11.2 per cent of the overall student body.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said incorrectly that 800 international students started their first semester at Loyalist this fall and that 300 international students were enrolled in the 2017-18 school year. In fact, 300 new international students were enrolled last year.
A map with tags displaying where international students come from. Photo by Mariia Khanenko, QNetNews