College targets shady agents who mislead international students

Sault College has signed an agreement with most of Ontario’s other community colleges - known as the Ontario public colleges’ standards of practice for international education - that guarantees honesty, fairness and help for international students while being recruited abroad, during their time at college and after graduation.

“It’s going to make sure that the experience they get here meets the expectations that were presented to them when they were recruited to come,” said Colin Kirkwood, Sault College vice president of operations after the college’s board of governors met Thursday.

Sault College has approximately 3,000 international students from 39 countries.

The institution has nine full-time employees working abroad to recruit students for Sault College.

The signing of the standards of practice comes after disreputable agents have issued fraudulent letters of acceptance from Canadian colleges to prospective international students in their student visa applications.

Those students, after arriving in Canada, find themselves redirected to private sector colleges and many, after studying in Canada, then face deportation orders from the federal government.

None of Sault College’s students have gone through such an experience, said Kirkwood and Ron Common, Sault College president.

“Some people felt that some of their agents in other countries had misrepresented opportunities and what the programs were like and this is certainly giving assurance that the disreputable agents that exist will not be able to operate,” Common said.

Each of the colleges that have signed the 12-page Ontario public colleges’ standards of practice for international education state they are committed to providing accurate information to international students and to providing academic support, healthcare and housing services.  

Sault College signed on to the agreement with other Ontario colleges in Nov. 2022.

“It wasn’t a difficult thing for me to put our name on,” Common said.

“This is a step forward in terms of taking all of the colleges that have partnerships and come up with some common standards rather than everybody doing their own thing. I think it’s a major step forward,” Common said.