{"id":46598,"date":"2017-09-12T16:41:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T20:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=46598"},"modified":"2017-09-13T06:43:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T10:43:28","slug":"brocks-international-enrolment-jumps-18-per-cent-for-first-year-undergrads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/09\/brocks-international-enrolment-jumps-18-per-cent-for-first-year-undergrads\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock\u2019s international enrolment jumps 13 per cent for first-year undergrads"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not the snow that worries Esther van Zadelhoff. She\u2019s seen that before in her travels. And it can be pretty. She\u2019s far more concerned with that bitter Canadian cold she\u2019s heard so much about.<\/span><\/p>\n

But for the first-year psychology student from the Caribbean island of Cura\u00e7ao, off the coast of Venezuela, it\u2019s all part of the adventure of moving 3,500 km north to attend Brock University.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s one of 1,777 international students who have chosen Brock this year, a total that includes 1,160 undergrads and 617 students in graduate programs.<\/p>\n

The numbers also include an 13-per-cent increase in undergrad international students<\/a> who are new to Brock this year. Enrolment data shows sizeable jumps in the faculties of Mathematics and Science, Humanities and Applied Health Sciences. And while China continues to be the biggest market for Brock International, there are also significant numbers from India, Africa and the Middle East .<\/p>\n

van Zadelhoff speaks for many international students who have left home to come to Canada and a new culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit overwhelming because it\u2019s big here,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m used to knowing everyone on the island because it\u2019s so small.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they did with their older two daughters, van Zadelhoff\u2019s parents Maarten and Ilsa, along with her grandmother Femmy Kistemaker, travelled with her to her new home in Niagara last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps having them here, but I\u2019m excited to go out on my own,\u201d Esther said. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool to meet new students from all over the world. The whole experience of going into University is really different \u2014 especially being so far from home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamie Mandigo, Brock\u2019s Vice-Provost, Enrolment Management and International, says the influx of new students is the result of years of hard work from Brock\u2019s international recruiting teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve looked at more diverse markets like India, the Middle East and Africa,\u201d Mandigo said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had recruiters go to those places, developing partnerships and relationships and making personal connections with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there\u2019s also a growing appetite for international higher education among many countries around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of countries are encouraging their young people to go and have a global experience. Canada is viewed as a safe and welcoming country, and we have high standards. No matter where in Canada you go, you\u2019re going to get a high-quality education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping that momentum going is part of the reasoning behind the Brock International Student Ambassadors program launched this year. Selected students become ambassadors for the University and in exchange, the students get to pay domestic tuition rates, rather than international.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want them to share their experiences with our own students here and in their home countries,\u201d Mandigo said. \u201cI think our students are our best recruiters. So we want to recognize and celebrate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first group of 10 ambassadors were introduced at the International Open House including: Evans Boadi, Ghana; Ana Caldeira Rua, Portugal; Yi Xiang Chen, Malaysia; Shanen D\u2019Souza, India; Ana Ferreira, Trinidad and Tobago; Skylar Grote, United States; Marcelo Muniz Correa, Brazil; Santiago Negret Rey, Colombia; and Ze Liu and Xiaoyang Xia, China.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see this as a great honour to be a representative of the University,\u201d said Boadi, a second-year Mathematics and Statistics graduate student. \u201cI know it comes with hard work, and it comes with a big responsibility because I\u2019m representing my country and my continent. But I\u2019m excited for this award.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brock President Gervan Fearon, centre, along with Jamie Mandigo, Brian Hutchings, Tom Dunk and Leigh-Ellen Keating join Brock’s new International Student Ambassadors and International Award for Possiblities recipients.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

President Gervan Fearon addresses the crowd at the International Open House on Wednesday, Sept. 6.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not the snow that worries Esther van Zadelhoff. She\u2019s seen that before in her travels. And it can be pretty. She\u2019s far more concerned with that bitter Canadian cold she\u2019s heard so much about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":46602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,1,4],"tags":[159,5776,4014],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46598"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46598"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46606,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46598\/revisions\/46606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}