Internationalization in Higher Education

My colleague Henry and I presenting together this morning during the annual conference of Colleges and Institutes Canada on  my favorite topic  of "internationalization".

Stephen Lewis presentation

Stephen Lewis, the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa about 10-15 years ago when that pandemic was at its height, presented yesterday at the annual conference of "Colleges & Institutes Canada". As always a passionate plea for international engagement.

Went for a walk in between conference sessions and project meetings today. Quebec City has well managed to preserve some 300-400 years of history. Beautiful sights in a great setting...

Farewell to Lex

My brother-in-law Lex in Holland passed away last week. Very sad and unexpected. Because my passport was elsewhere (for a visa application) I was not able  to attend, but my sister Han enabled me to listen to the funeral service on-line which was amazing. We will  all miss you, Lex. Farewell. Many hugs to my sister Han & family. See you soon.

Quebec City - conference

Just arrived in "vieux" Quebec City for the annual conference of CICan (Colleges and Institutes Canada). Best annual networking meeting of all international movers & shakers at the Canadian  colleges. Presenting with a colleague from Seneca on Tuesday.

Ontario Association for International Education

Attended this annual conference hosted by "neighbors"at Durham College. Some of my "old crew" of Niagara College were there as well as many other great colleagues in our system.

ICEF event in Toronto

This week hundreds of international student recruitment agencies from around the world attended one of the ICEF events to meet with education institutions from all over North America. Toronto was the host city this year and Seneca was one of the main sponsors of the event.

Two of our recruiters had meetings with agencies and in addition we had a nice booth where two of our other recruiters met with more agencies. Very important networking event.

Social Services Worker - Immigrant & Refugees program at Seneca

This morning I attended a special event organized by students and staff of Seneca College's two year diploma program called "Social Services Worker - Immigrants and Refugees". This program has a truly spectacular diversity of students and teachers who come from around the world, many of whom had to overcome very challenging paths of persecution, violence and wars.

Six awards were handed out to citizens and activists who are putting enormous energy in making a new home in Canada for newcomers to Canada. One of the awards was for the federal government in facilitating the welcoming of refugee families from Syria. It was accepted by an MP from the GTA who himself arrived in Canada many years ago as a refugee. Another award was given to the Ontario government for facilitation the settling of refugees, and this was received by Minister Chan of Citizenship, Immigration and International  Trade for Ontario.

Students of the SSW-IR program talked about their studies and there was an auction of the artwork they produced during one of their courses ("Arts & Healing"). There were a few dancers, singers and poetry performances which were so captivating that I forgot to make photos....

The Program Chair Biljana spoke, and the Program Coordinator Soheila enlightened us as well. Staff from the college's First Nations Office also presented with some wise words and reminders  for us all  to be human beings first and foremost.

And they had a very good crowd coming out of students, staff and community representatives. All  in all two hours which flew by. Thanks for inviting me, Soheila! Big hug!!