Saint Mary’s targets international students

SMU is partnering with universities abroad and staff is traveling to recruit students

University President Dr. Colin Dodds says Saint Mary’s students become “citizens of the world.” (Photo: Natalia Roque-Cuadra)

Saint Mary's University's logo is "One University. One World. Yours."

Walk through Loyola Hall located in one of the main buildings, and you can hear the sounds of many different languages coming from students from many different parts of the world.

Alana Robb, the manager of international student services, says there are 1,207 international students registered at Saint Mary's, 500 of them first-year students from China. And the number of visiting students from Europe is growing. They usually come to study for one semester and then leave, paying double what Canadian citizens pay.

The university's president, Dr. Colin Dodds, says European students are required to do a semester abroad and Saint Mary's is taking advantage. Percentage-wise, Saint Mary's has the highest number of international students in Halifax, with commerce as the most popular program.
Dodds says the school has been recruiting international students for about 10 years, and has looked for visiting students for the past five years. Saint Mary's partners with other universities abroad, he says, and university staff - along with the president himself - travel to other countries to recruit students and strengthen ties.

Dodds says Saint Mary's is attracting so many international students because one of the school's visions is to teach students to be "citizens of the world."

"I, myself am an immigrant" says Dodds, who immigrated to Canada from England in 1982.

The university has an international centre that offers a wide variety of services. Robb says she helps students with all aspects of studying in Canada, such as applying for visas and work permits. She helps them fill out applications when the language barrier is a problem.

"But we see students for any kind of personal problems ... and if we can't solve them we encourage them to go to counseling or try to put them in touch with their professor and that kind of thing."

Sadé Mathew, a student from the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, works at the front desk in the Student Union Building. She says she has taken advantage from the services the international centre offers.

"They helped me fill out a document to help me get the work permit ... they help us do our tax forms also, and everyone would know the tax forms are difficult."

The centre holds many activities, but international night is the biggest event of the year. The event is about music, food and performances by students.

Pradheesh Thomas, a student from India, says he transferred to Saint Mary's from Dalhousie because Dal's psychology program is more science-oriented than the one at Saint Mary's.

"I want to become a social worker and, at Dalhousie, it's more like neuroscience," he says.

Before heading off to a meeting with a delegation from Ghana, Dodds repeats the school's vision: to help students become citizens of the world.

Comments on this story are now closed