With September 2016 admissions recently completed, many of the applications processed were from students outside of Canada. Recruiting students from around the world to attend a top 100 institution is in some ways the easy part. How to best support and assist these students becomes the larger task of our campus community.
To speak more on this popular topic of discussion among Canadian post-secondary institutions, University of Alberta International invited educational speaker Lionel Laroche to campus. I was lucky enough to attend his first presentation, “How to Help International Students Succeed, by Understanding their Perspective and Challenges” and hope to provide some highlights as well as my own reflections from the session.
If at this point you’ve regretted reading this far and are strongly considering closing your internet browser — feel free — but be sure to look up Lionel Laroche on YouTube at a later point. His material is engaging, interesting, and includes examples from his personal experiences. If you work with students from a variety of backgrounds — I believe you’ll learn something new.
For those willing to continue on, included below is a small sample of what I found most impactful after leaving the session: his quotes. As someone who enjoys a great quote, and thus most of what I wrote down for notes, I thought that sharing Lionel Laroche’s own words may be useful when reflecting on his introductory session. If you spend any part of your day assisting students, I imagine that these quotes will also resonate with you:
“The fish doesn’t know it is in water until you take it out — and by then it is too late”
A reflection each of us who works with students should consider. Students who are in trouble may not know they are in trouble until it is too late.
“Culture is the way we do things when nobody tells us what to do”
Laroche’s definition for culture — explained through a fantastic example. Canadian culture dictates without a written rule that forming a line to wait for service is the common expectation. To cut into that line at any place other than the end is almost a criminal offence. In other cultures where abundance is not the norm, waiting in line will not ensure you receive what you want. This is understood and expected by everyone else also wanting to get to the front. The moral: which of our expectations for students are cultural as opposed to institutional. And what percentage of service and support frustrations are linked to cultural misunderstanding as opposed to violations of clearly explained expectations.
“Don’t limit your socialization to people from your own country”
The advice applies to more than just our international students. Our domestic students need to be reminded of this as well — as future leaders in a multicultural marketplace.
“Students don’t need another degree — they need toastmasters”
In North America, we hear all the time about the importance of soft skills. There is an expectation that when our students graduate, they’ll be entering a workforce where a blend of soft skills and intelligence are required. The thing that we easily forget is that the same isn’t always true for our international students. Some cultures, and thus the workforce, value the accumulation of more specialized knowledge. It is up to us to help them learn how to speak and relate well to others both in formal and informal settings. And we also have to respect that for many international students, if they work outside of Canada, it will be their purely academic achievements that will be valued well above the soft skills that are emphasized here.
“Foreign students need to learn the unwritten rules of Canadian organizations and follow them. Canadians need to explain these rules and give feedback”
This was Laroche’s summary statement about building better understanding. If we were to head to a new country, the same would be true for us, and we would hope to have a kind local or expat help us learn the cultural norms. So we need to be willing to do the same for those who are new to our culture. Even just adjusting to the culture from one campus to another takes time and can be challenging.
At the conclusion of the event and in considering it since, I found the information delivered to be very impactful. The personal stories that Laroche shared about learning a new language, and his use of the French translated word “demand” instead of “request” in business emails was particularly unforgettable.
I like to think of myself as a worldly person — having lived overseas, and possessing an interest in other cultures and current events — but I, I’m assuming like many, can be guilty at times of viewing a situation through only my own lens. I now have a greater understanding of the complexities of the relationship for new international students in Canada. As well as a deeper consideration for the backgrounds of these students in how they view service, post-secondary education, and the skills required for a successful career. I encourage you listen to Lionel’s own words via Youtube when you have some time — it can only help to make our university a better place to be.
Tyson Lazaruk — Recruitment Coordinator/Academic Advisor, Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation
Tyson Lazaruk is the Recruitment Coordinator/Academic Advisor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta. He has worked in recruitment at the university for the past six years, split between the Faculty of Phys. Ed and Rec and Augustana Campus in Camrose. He completed an undergraduate degree at Augustana Campus and an After-Degree in Elementary Education. Three things he is super interested in right now include Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Revisionist History’ Podcast, the recent Apple iOS 10 update, and anything on the Viceland TV channel.