When Stephanie Sanders earned a health promotions diploma at Humber College, she knew transferring to university was her next step.

She had her sights set on a school but her mind changed with one trip to Brock University to visit a friend.

“I came here and saw the campus and the area,” she said. “Plus they have a great physical education program here.”

Sanders, 22, said Brock made transferring from college to university stress-free. She received five transfer credits towards her honours degree in physical education.

“My transfer experience was pretty easy. I was able to just slide into it,” she said, noting she participated in Smart Start and found it helpful.

Reno Fernley, 24, is a transfer student from Durham College, where he graduated from fitness and health promotion. At Brock, he’s working on attaining a bachelor’s in kinesiology.

“The reputation of the kinesiology program is what drew me here,” he said.

Fernley didn’t attend the Smart Start program but said that as a mature student, he had no trouble navigating his way around Brock’s programs and services using the website.

Sanders and Fernley shared their transfer student experiences at a recent symposium for Brock faculty and staff who work with this population.

The event was aimed at educating the Brock community about transfer students – an individual who has studied at another accredited university or college prior to studying at Brock. A transfer student may apply part way through studies at their current post-secondary institution, or they may have already graduated.

Brock recognizes the importance of transfer students and is committed to helping meet their unique needs, said Registrar Barb Davis.

“It’s always been a population we’ve welcomed,” she said. “We’ve always had a commitment to transfer students.”

Brock even publishes a view book specifically targeted to them.

Davis said it is vital that Brock continues its efforts to attract and support transfer students.

“We are starting to see more competition from other schools,” she said.

With the province’s shift in demographics resulting in far fewer university-aged students, Davis said many universities are turning to other pools of potential students.

“There’s a lot of work going on in the province right now to understand and encourage student mobility,” she said.

That mobility works both ways – from college to university and from university to college.

She said creating pathways for students to come to Brock and for Brock students to go into other programs here or at other post-secondary institutions is an ongoing effort.

Davis said the top two Faculties with transfer students are Applied Health Sciences and Social Sciences.

“We want to create even more opportunities for those students and increase the numbers,” she said.

This Fall, Brock welcomed more than 800 new transfer students from Canadian colleges and universities.

“We are on the leading edge when it comes to transfer students,” said Melissa Beamer, Manager of Recruitment Services.

She said there are services dedicated to transfer students at Brock and the University really values the experience and maturity transfer students bring to the classroom.

For more information on transferring visit http://brocku.ca/registrar/transfer-students/