Obtaining funding to launch a navigation service for French-speaking students

In the framework of the Francophone Immigration Support Program (Programme d'appui à l'immigration francophone - PAIF) of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Campus Saint-Jean, the Francophone campus of the University of Alberta, has obtained funding of $1,580,126 over four years to launch a navigator service for Francophone students. This project will build on Campus Saint-Jean`s role of beacon for Francophone immigration in Western Canada by increasing the attractiveness, welcoming and retention of international students from Francophone countries, in order to contribute to the development of Francophone minority communities in Alberta.

The funds will be used primarily to create an admissions service to process Francophone applications and visa assistance; to create a navigator service to provide information on CSJ programs, the Canadian education system, immigration to Canada and Alberta's Francophone minority communities.

Finally, this funding will strengthen the outreach capabilities of Campus Saint-Jean through its own staff to develop strategies and promotional materials so that the institution can promote and highlight its programs of study to key institutional partners across the province, Canada and the world.

For Professor Jason Carey, Dean of Campus Saint-Jean : "this funding will enable the Campus Saint-Jean to continue its international expansion by presenting its college, undergraduate, master's and doctoral programs to qualified candidates from all over the world, thus strengthening its international reach and reputation. The importance that the navigation program will have on the recruitment, admission and support process for international students throughout their journey from the application process to their graduation cannot be overstated.

The impact that this funding will have for Campus Saint-Jean Campus and for Francophone immigration outside Quebec cannot be underestimated. Among other things, it will enable the integration of newcomers into the Francophone community and into the labor market, through our college to doctoral programs and the enterprise of competence program.

We would like to thank Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Programme d'appui à l'immigration francophone, and all the provincial and federal levels of government that have worked to obtain this funding."