(Ottawa) There is little hope that the study permits for the 14 African students expected at Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean CEGEPs will be granted in time to prevent them from missing the fall semester. The meeting Tuesday between the four directors general of these establishments and representatives of the federal Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, was disappointing for Sylvain Gaudreault of the Cégep de Jonquière.
“This is the first time in the last ten years that the excellence scholarship recipients will not come and register,” he laments in an interview. “That’s major.”
The Cégep de Jonquière generally welcomed between three and ten of them in a good year or bad year. This year, none of the five international students who received the Quebec government’s Excellence Scholarship and were expected by the institution obtained their study permit.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The general director of the Cégep de Jonquière, Sylvain Gaudreault
The Press reported Tuesday that the federal Immigration Department had refused study permits for 14 African students who had obtained this $14,000 scholarship offered by Quebec to study in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean. It also includes an exemption from tuition fees, which can vary between $7,000 and $11,000 per session, depending on their study programs. Its goal is to encourage high-performing international students to study in French in CEGEPs outside the greater Montreal area and in fields where there is a pressing need for workers.
Read the article “Totally unjustified refusals”
Of the 17 international students who received the Quebec scholarship and were supposed to study in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, only three obtained their study permits for programs at Collège d’Alma and Cégep de Saint-Félicien. Fourteen were refused “due to lack of proof of financial capacity” in almost all cases. Of this group, eleven submitted a new application, but have not heard anything.
I asked the question right from the start during the meeting: “Can you confirm that in the assessment of financial capacity you recognize the contribution of the Quebec Excellence Scholarship?” They said yes.
Sylvain Gaudreault, general director of Cégep de Jonquière.
The amount of financial resources required to come and study in Canada increased from $10,000 to $20,635 in January to reflect the rising cost of living. An international student must demonstrate in their application that they have this amount in their pocket, in addition to an amount equivalent to their first year of tuition fees and enough money to pay for a return ticket to their country. This amount is higher than the $15,078 living expenses required in Quebec, which are in addition to tuition fees, the cost of a return trip to their home country and $500 in settlement costs.
In the case of Félicité Kossi, a 20-year-old Togolese, the $14,000 scholarship for each of the three years of her program, the $9,000 tuition waiver per session and a $9,000 raised by her mother do not seem to have been enough to convince federal officials. She is one of the students waiting for a response after submitting a new application with additional documents. Hers was sent during the first week of August.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FELICITÉ KOSSI
Togolese Félicité Kossi is one of the beneficiaries of the Quebec government’s Excellence Scholarship whose study permit was refused by the federal Ministry of Immigration.
The federal Immigration Department has 60 days to evaluate the new applications, but time is running out since the fall session has already begun. The Cégep de Jonquière is giving them until September 9 to begin their programs, after which the delay will be too great to overcome. “We have little hope, unfortunately,” sighs Mr. Gaudreault. They may be able to fall back on the January session, if they manage to obtain their precious pass.