Session

As international students navigate their academic journey, they interact with many stakeholders within an institution. Often, important conversations about academic challenges, career opportunities, and more are happening without an awareness of immigration implications. Due to limited or centralized immigration advising services, international students may not be receiving a holistic picture of their options and/or staff members may not feel capable of delivering well-rounded advising services given the restrictions associated with providing immigration advice.In this session, New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) staff will highlight their experience collaborating across departments to best support international students experiencing academic challenges which may result in part-time studies and gaps in their studies, both of which have serious immigration implications.If a student is unsuccessful in a prerequisite course, they are restricted in when they can re-take the particular course. Furthermore, there is an impact on a student’s course map where courses may not be able to be completed on the original timeline. This curriculum delivery model disproportionately impacts international students who have been unsuccessful in a course. NBCC staff have created immigration resources that non-immigration practitioners can utilize when guiding international students through these discussions.Session participants will be encouraged to identify and vocalize some of these challenges at their own institution and to explore opportunities for collaboration across departments. After identifying an opportunity at their own institution, participants will be given templates with guiding questions to create process flows for their own institution.