Welcome! Bienvenue!

Students from around the world arrive in Canada

Every year in August and September, members from the WUSC community gather at airports across the country to welcome a new cohort of students from around the world to Canada. Through our various sponsorship and scholarship programs, these youth are given the opportunity to continue their studies at top Canadian universities, colleges, and CEGEPs.

This year, we are thrilled to welcome a total of 226 new students to Canada through the Student Refugee Program (SRP), the International Student Management (ISM) Program, and the Canadian Francophonie Scholarship Program (PCBF).

130 refugee youth resettled in Canada through the Student Refugee Program (SRP)

Over the month of August, new student arrivals for the SRP took place across the country, including at airports in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Vancouver. Students, faculty members, and staff who comprise our WUSC Local Committees gathered to welcome their new peers and introduce them to campus life at our more than 85 partnering institutions. This year, 130 students were welcomed from four countries of asylum: Kenya, Malawi, Lebanon, and Jordan.

The SRP, which is now approaching its 40th anniversary, is the only program in the world to combine higher education with resettlement through a unique youth-to-youth model of support. With the continued support of our institutional partners, donors, and alumni, we have been able to provide resettlement and higher education opportunities to over 1,700 refugee youth since the program first began in 1978. In the coming years, with your support, we are aiming to increase the number of sustainable placements available to students.

Related: Find out how you can help increase the number of placements available to refugee youth.

Local Committee members from the Greater Toronto Area greet their new peers at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Ontario.

17 Batswana youth arrive in Canada through the International Student Management (ISM) Program

Every year, as summer holidays draw to a close, we also welcome our new cohort of ISM students, who come to study in Canada from Botswana. This year, 17 excited and ambitious Batswana youth arrived through the program, where they will be attending various institutions across the country.

Through ISM, we partner with leading Canadian post-secondary institutions to provide Batswana youth with the skills and knowledge they seek to successfully contribute to their communities upon return home. We work with the Botswana Ministry of Education to administer scholarships to these students at postsecondary institutions in Canada. Since the program began in 1981, we have placed approximately 1,500 Batswana youth, with a success rate of 92% of students completing their studies and returning to work in their country of origin.

This year’s ISM cohort pose for a photo with WUSC staff at the park during their orientation in Ottawa.

79 scholars from developing countries of La Francophonie begin their studies in Canada through the Canadian Francophonie Scholarship Program (PCBF)

This fall, we were pleased to have 79 scholars joining us through PCBF from developing countries of La Francophonie in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. We expect another 65 to join this year’s cohort in the winter months, for a total of 144 students this academic year.

PCBF is a program that supports employed nationals from developing countries of La Francophonie to build the capacity of their local institutions through advanced education. This program, funded by the government of Canada, has been jointly run by WUSC and the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) since January of 2015. Since it began in 1987, the program has awarded over 2,400 scholarships.

The fall 2017 PCBF cohort pose for a group photo upon their arrival in Montreal, Quebec.