Canada is a popular destination for international students. If the province of Quebec attracts many French speakers for linguistic reasons, the province of New Brunswick has been on the rise for several years.
The University of Moncton in Canada has 27% international students, coming from 40 different countries, including France, as explained by Frenchwoman Lauriane Laforge, member of the establishment’s management.
“In New Brunswick and Acadia, we have a very strong cultural heritage that comes from France, transmitted by the Acadian community, testifies Lauriane Laforge, director of business development and continuing education programs at the Université francophone de Moncton. Here, we speak French and we live in French. It’s a different culture from Quebec because the history has been different. The Acadian people have had to fight more and differently for their linguistic rights because we are in a bilingual province. So, there is French pride.”
No one here has forgotten the “Great disturbance” of 1755, when thousands of Acadians were deported, sent by the English to different countries or territories, around the Atlantic, hence the importance of this French-speaking university in New Brunswick, present in three campuses in the province (Edmundston, Moncton and Shippagan). The establishment is relatively young. It was opened in 1963, and today accommodates 5,000 students. Here, we teach law, education, science, community services, administration and even engineering.
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One more step
The continuing education department has around 2,500 registrations each year. “We have people who are already employed, and who want to reorient themselves or take an additional step in their career, explains Ms. Laforge, for example technicians who want to go into management, or who want to deepen a concept, like IT executives who want to go into artificial intelligence, because it is a current subject. It’s not necessarily a reorientation in the same sector, it’s sometimes more advanced.”
Still others, particularly newcomers, will completely reorient themselves: “I was a teacher in my country, and I’m going to come here, because I want to open a store. So, I’m going to do management training.”
Add to that people who have never worked before, and for whom it is like their first university experience: “Instead of going to university full time, they will start part time for different reasons, explains Lauriane Laforge, because they don’t know what they want to do and want to test themselves, or because they want or need to work at the same time. And then we also have candidates who come to get a diploma.”
A totally remote MBA
The largest part-time program at the University of Nouveau is a general MBA (Master of Business Administration) in management with courses in accounting, marketing, human resources and taxation, highly recognized in the job market in Canada. The diploma can also be taken entirely remotely, from France for example. “People starting their immigration journey can start the MBA from home in France and then finish it here, says Ms. Laforge. The advantage is to obtain a local diploma recognized in New Brunswick. The second advantage is that you work here, you are in the classes. In terms of networking, it’s huge because we do a lot of group work in the MBA, and when we arrive on the job market, it opens a lot of doors when looking for a job in management for example. It makes integration easier.”
The continuing education department also welcomes recent immigrants to the education sector, who have come to complete their course. “Here, the system is a little different, specifies Ms. Laforge. You need a certain number of teaching credits, which they collect to have the right to teach. They also come to train on themes that they have not necessarily seen in France, such as education in a linguistic minority environment, because it is really different to have a class in front of you and students who do not all speak. a Frenchman of the same level. They come to look for education management courses in New Brunswick because the school laws are different.”
Go further
The continuing education department of the University of Moncton
Find this column on the site, the app, and in the international mobility magazine, “Journal des Français à l’avenir.fr”