By Jennifer McGregor
It’s not a coincidence people like Jacquie Griffiths are coming from all over the world to attend Ryerson.
“Change of environment—that is what I wanted,” said the fourth-year administration and information management student from Jamaica.
An aggressive recruitment drive by administration is luring more and more international students like Griffiths—135 are enrolled this year, 43 per cent more than last year.
“It has been a lot of hard work—there is no magic wand in these matters,” said Ryerson registrar Keith Alnwick, who aims to enrol 500 international students in the next three years. “A lot of people have worked very, very hard.”
In September 1999, Ryerson hired Vicky Choy as an international recruitment co-ordinator.
Alnwick said the hefty tuition international students pay—roughly $12,500 a year—means more cash for Ryerson, but he said that’s secondary to how these students broaden the experiences of Canadian students and faculty.
“Certainly the material benefits will evolve over time,” he said.
As soon as an international student who meets the admission requirements expresses interest in studying at Ryerson, the university offers him or her a spot and the registration process begins.
Not to be confused with exchange students who come to Ryerson for one year, international students earn their entire degrees here.
“To be quite blunt, Canada isn’t on the map in most international locations in terms of the post-secondary sector,” Alnwick said. “Whether you are the University of Toronto, McGill, Western, Queen’s, Ryerson—wherever.”
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