Canadian Colleges & Institutes - Responding to the Needs of Immigrants

Waiting lists for language programs, including LINC, and career and technical programs.
The availability or non-availability of courses at any given time.
A lack of smooth and easily understood transitions and progressions through programs.
Lengthy application and intake processes.
A lack of enrollment management in the area of course availability matched to assessments.

The lack of recognition of credentials affects admissions standards and qualifying for funding because newcomers have to establish residency before qualifying for post-secondary education funding.
Colleges and institutes have difficulty in recognizing international training and employment experience for the purposes of granting advanced credits.
Colleges and institutes generally lack streamlined processes to help immigrants plan their careers.

Canadian academic environments may be significantly different from those of other countries.
Faculty may have difficulty understanding accented English or French, as may immigrant students.

Daycare funding for immigrant students beyond LINC is not provided or is insufficient.
In B.C., provincial funding for support services for immigrants at colleges and institutes has been compromised with the closure of the B.C. Benefits Office, which provided counseling services to assist immigrants in arranging funding for tuition, daycare, books and living expenses.

Rising tuition fees.
Insufficient financial support for part-time or evening studies.
A lack of bursaries and scholarships specifically for immigrants.
Courses offered individually are often more costly than if they are offered through a program. This is a disadvantage for immigrants who may not need to follow a complete program, but may only require one or two courses to upgrade certain skills.
A lack of integration in planning services for new Canadians, for example, ESL students at some levels pay tuition whereas other do not.
Access to student funding. For example in Alberta, grant funding has been reduced from 40 to 24 months. This is not an adequate timeframe for immigrants to develop English proficiency for most occupations and then take the training needed to update or “Canadianize” their credentials.
If students are working more than 20 hours per week, regardless of the wage, they are disqualified from grant funding opportunities.