THE INDIGENOUS ENGAGEMENT AND NARRATIVE IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION

Watch, re-watch or listen (on Spotify) some of our morning coffee series videos. Our Morning Coffee Series proposes to take just ten minutes of your time to meet pioneers and leaders both familiar, sage, and longstanding, as well as new and innovative. Speakers will explore issues and topics crucial to the conversations we should be having. 

• Welcome by Randall Martin, Executive Director at the BC Council for International Education. 
• Traditional opening, land acknowledgement
• Keynote address by Andrew Gordon
   

Andrew is a social entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Diversity Abroad. With a passion for student success, global engagement, and social entrepreneurship, he founded Diversity Abroad in 2006 with a simple vision, that the next generation of young people from historically marginalized backgrounds are equipped with the skills, experiences, and networks to thrive in the 21st century interconnected world and globally diverse workforce. As an international advocate for student success through equitable access to global education, Andrew speaks and writes extensively on leveraging global education to support students’ academic success, interpersonal growth, and career readiness. He consults colleges and universities, non-profits, companies, and government agencies on developing, implementing, and monitoring diversity, equity, and inclusive practices, policies, and strategies in their global engagement operations.

Andrew is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese. He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and has studied, worked and traveled in 56 countries.

For more information on this speaker, please visit www.diversitynetwork.org.

We welcome Gwaai Edenshaw as our Artist in Residence for the duration of the conference. Gwaai will live-streaming his carving process from his studio in Haida Gwaii throughout the week.

Please join us for the live Q&A with Gwaai on Thursday, June 24th at 9:30 am and the carving reveal at our closing ceremonies on Friday, June 25th at 1:00 pm.

About the Artist

Gwaai is a Haida artist known primarily for his metalwork. He also works with a variety of media including bone, slate, and wood. Alongside being an illustrator, Gwaai also has a passion for story and language. As a founding member of the K’aalts’idaa K’ah Storytelling Society, he has had a role in numerous productions, including the Haidawood stop-motion animation suite, the Haida staging of Sounding Gambling Sticks, and as a consultant in Bruce Ruddell’s Beyond Eden. Along with a life of learning from his father, Guujaaw, Gwaai was also trained by Bill Reid. He continues to learn through the generosity of senior artists and collaborators.

Unconscious bias and privilege are part of the intercultural, diversity, and inclusion narrative. Current world events are highlighting inequities, while elevating levels of anxiety. Stress is a known factor in contributing to decreased abilities to notice and reduce bias. This session explores how unconscious bias and privilege manifest in our diverse institutions. We invite participants to examine how these processes are part of the fabric of their own contexts and to join us as we identify meaningful strategies to notice and mitigate the effects of bias and privilege when working with diverse populations. Please note this session is in Zoom meeting format and may require (optional) audience video/audio participation. 

Additional Resources: 

• Uncovering Bias and Privilege Using an Intercultural Lens

Canada's aggressive immigration targets for the coming years reflect the importance of newcomers to the country's social, economic, and cultural landscape. As temporary residents already in Canada, international students can play a key role in the country’s growth. To best prepare international students for employment, a clear understanding of employer expectations and engagement with Canadian employers is essential, yet this is rarely included as part of formal education. To address this, the Immigrant Employment Council of BC has partnered with Northeastern University and Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society to offer ASCEND, an online employment readiness program, directly to international students. This session will discuss the employment needs of businesses, how schools can best support them, and the results of piloting ASCEND with diverse groups of international students.

Additional Resources: 

• Education and Employment Readiness: International Students and the Canadian Labour Market - PPT
• ASCEND Info Sheet

During “normal” times, Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students studying health promotion would “work collaboratively and engage in processes that facilitate health promotion and empowerment with community members or agencies.” These are not normal times. During COVID, collaborative engagements are being conducted virtually. College of the Rockies seized on this as an opportunity, expanding community partners involved in health promotion to include an international partner that is supporting Tanzanian women in completing secondary and post-secondary studies. BSN students participating in this collaboration not only had to navigate intercultural cross-roads to achieve their learning objectives, but also experienced interfacing with many layers of relative privilege. Please note this session is in Zoom meeting format and may require (optional) audience video/audio participation. 

In recent years, Mexico Western/Bajio region has noticeably strengthened its relationship with the Province of British Columbia through a number of platforms and activities. Coupled with evolving collaboration, a number of MOUs have been forged, including those between BC Council for International Education (BCCIE) and Jalisco and Guanajuato.

This session will be lead by Canada´s Ambassador to Mexico, Mr. Graeme Clark, who will provide brief opening remarks on Canada-Mexico relationships on CUSMA; human capital and education. Mexican key stakeholders from the states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato and Jalisco will present updates on their postsecondary collaborations with Canada, prior to and during the global pandemic. Some of the programs offered for students and teachers to study and conduct research in Canada include: scholarships and student loans for postgraduate and bachelor degrees, ESL, FSL, TESOL, short mobility programs and  Mitacs research fellowships. 
 

This presentation will focus on the developments in IELTS, particularly concentrating on the increasing number of organisations that recognise IELTS in Canada and the services available to existing, new and potential Canadian recognising organisations. The presentation will also emphasise on the growth in IELTS operations across Canada  and how IELTS Canada has successfully continued to accommodate the increasing demand from test takers during a pandemic and the new government pathway to permanent residency specific to 90,000 individuals.  

Join UMAP Program Administrator, Michelle Johnson, to learn more about UMAP, its programs, scholarships available and how your institution can join.

• What is UMAP?
• IELTS - the most recognised, the most accessible, the most popular English language test

Forced migration is devastating access to education as only three percent of refugee youth will obtain higher education in their lifetime. 65 percent of all globally displaced people are youth under 25 years old, and as Canada remains the leader in refugee resettlement, educational institutions will play a key role in reducing barriers to education for resettled youth. International departments are crucial to the success of resettled youth as they require the additional supports and services as newcomers to Canada. By providing more inclusive and equitable approaches to admissions, pathways, bursaries, and scholarships, institutions in Canada can benefit from the rich diversity these students bring to campus, improving global access to education overall.

With or without COVID-19, it seems that remote relationships in our day-to-day working lives are here to stay. Over the last year we have learned from our successes and failures and developed some new understandings that we would like to share. Whether you are joining an organization or heading/working on a team where there are no opportunities for interactions in person, Glow-Ed leaders would like to share some of the approaches that have worked well and explore the pitfalls they have encountered as we navigate remote teams.

We will demonstrate a partnership between Langara College in Canada, and ITESO in Mexico that seeks to address privilege by developing COIL Virtual Exchange that are inclusive and accessible to all. Since attending the BCCIE and Jalisco Networking Event in September 2020 we began collaborating by formalizing COIL faculty matches, resulting in the creation of class projects designed to develop equitable intercultural learning outcomes for students as well as professional development for faculty. We will show practical steps in developing partnerships that go beyond physical mobility, levelling the playing field to eliminate economic inequalities between both students and educational systems.

This session focuses on the perspectives of faculty members on the value of internationalization at colleges and universities and the role of international offices in supporting their work. International offices play a facilitating role whose success in mobilizing international opportunities for their institution relies, in part, on strong buy-in and sustained involvement from faculty members. The audience will be engaged in discussion to explore ideas, success stories, and strategies for fostering a collaborative culture between international offices and faculty members to better advance global institutional opportunities. Please note this session is in Zoom meeting format and may require (optional) audience video/audio participation. 

We welcome Gwaai Edenshaw as our Artist in Residence for the duration of the conference. Gwaai will live-streaming his carving process from his studio in Haida Gwaii throughout the week.

Please join us for the live Q&A with Gwaai on Thursday, June 24th at 9:30 am and the carving reveal at our closing ceremonies on Friday, June 25th at 1:00 pm.

About the Artist

Gwaai is a Haida artist known primarily for his metalwork. He also works with a variety of media including bone, slate, and wood. Alongside being an illustrator, Gwaai also has a passion for story and language. As a founding member of the K’aalts’idaa K’ah Storytelling Society, he has had a role in numerous productions, including the Haidawood stop-motion animation suite, the Haida staging of Sounding Gambling Sticks, and as a consultant in Bruce Ruddell’s Beyond Eden. Along with a life of learning from his father, Guujaaw, Gwaai was also trained by Bill Reid. He continues to learn through the generosity of senior artists and collaborators.

Attitude, confidence or lack thereof, unclear understanding of the future benefits and opportunities for employment, lack of encouragement to participate, as well as financial challenges have been considered as main factors contributing to discourage study mobility experiences pre-COVID-19. In this session, we will explore an innovative approach to changing students’ attitudes to outbound mobility post-COVID-19. A BC-Northwest Territories Study Abroad Peer Support pilot project designed to address barriers to outbound mobility in a collaborative virtual space, presents the results of investigating ways to create a new, more inclusive, and socially just model of study abroad in the emerging post-COVID-19 post-secondary education landscape.

In this session participants are invited to imagine possible futures for internationalization by exploring ethical questions about internationalization activities such as recruitment, mobility, and curriculum. Using the framework introduced by Stein, de Oliveria Andreotti, and Suša (2019), participants will engage in dialogue through questions framed from liberal, critical, and decolonial lenses. As we interrogate our approaches and practices through these various lenses, we may open the possibility for a shift that recognizes the role that privilege has played and imagine how internationalization might be informed by critical questions and equitable practices going forward.

The Consulate General of Ireland Vancouver and BC Colleges will make a presentation on Ireland as a partner for international educational collaboration. The session will build on the presentation made at this event in 2019 and highlight the development of Irish-Canadian and particularly Irish-BC educational linkages in recent years and the potential for future collaboration.

During the course of 2021, the world is poised to slowly emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Much has been made of the supposed foundational changes to international education since the start of 2020 – with some suggesting irrevocable changes. This session argues that British Columbia – in line with responses to past crisis – will settle in predictable patterns once the pandemic has been brought under control. What this means for British Columbia’s education providers is that they have to compete, again, on mostly known albeit shifting parameters. This session will discuss the role of British Columbia from a competitive vantage point by sharing analysis on metrics such as rankings, social media, branding, and student mobility. The argument is made that the fundamentals have always mattered, and that the COVID-19 pandemic is anything created a flight to quality. The session concludes with a discussion with participants on how BC institutions can respond to these findings. Please note this session is in Zoom meeting format and may require (optional) audience video/audio participation. 

Join Colin Doerr, Director of External Relations at BCCIE, as he takes us to his backyard pottery studio where he riffs on intersections of International Education and clay. Colin crafts a vessel while narrating the little-known history of porcelain, its humble beginnings and subsequent global impacts. This session is part of an initiative to share the individuals behind the conference in the absence of an in-person event this year.

In this session, Savannah and Sarah from Global Engagement at the University of the Fraser Valley will host a cooking class where participants will be walked through how to prepare a surprise Mexican dish (drink included!). Get ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work in the kitchen in a fun and friendly environment with colleagues. Participants are encouraged to prepare these ingredients in advance:
Dish: Oil, 2 to 4 eggs, 1 onion, 1 tomato, 2 to 4 avocadoes, 1 lime, Tortilla chips, Salsa verde, Cheese – Queso Fresco (optional), Refried beans (optional), Chicken – or replacement (optional), 
Cooking tools: 1 bowl, 1 pan, 1 knife, 1 wood spoon,
Drink: Fresh or frozen mango, 1 lime and lime juice, Ice cubes, Sugar/salt, Tequila (optional)

To find more videos of Savannah and Sarah's innovative student outreach and engagement, visit their Facebook page here. 

Stay tuned for a list of social networking offerings!

Join us with a marker and some paper for “Where in The World – Picture Game."

Take a break and reconnect with colleagues in a fun activity that will test your international knowledge skills. The Where in The World – Picture Game features an exciting worldwide landmark quiz where participants will guess the city or country name of a number of pictures ranging from the most iconic to little-known places. The participant with the highest number of correct guesses will receive a prize.

Representatives from the provincial government will provide updates on BC’s international education sector looking at the sector response to the COVID-19 pandemic and activities in 
support of international education throughout the province. 
 

This session will provide an opportunity for BC and Canadian schools and institutions to further strengthen platforms for collaboration and partnership with the The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Network. The session will consist of an update on key collaborations to date and identify best practices, values and orientations that work to support sustainable, reciprocal and successful international partnership initiatives. SEAMEO is an intergovernmental organization established in 1965 among governments of Southeast Asian countries to promote cooperation in education, science, and culture in the region. At present, SEAMEO consists of the following 11 member countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam. BCCIE is now formally a SEAMEO Affiliate Member organization. As an Affiliate Member, BCCIE acts as an intermediary between SEAMEO’s 26 Regional Centres and BC and Canadian institutions and school districts in support of activities and partnerships relating to the SEAMEO network, affiliate institutions and their respective educational priorities.

CREATING A MORE INCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT 

Watch, re-watch or listen (on Spotify) some of our morning coffee series videos. Our Morning Coffee Series proposes to take just ten minutes of your time to meet pioneers and leaders both familiar, sage, and longstanding, as well as new and innovative. Speakers will explore issues and topics crucial to the conversations we should be having. 

Start your day in the right mindset. Join us for a live relaxing sound meditation session with Dr. Kao’s healing sound bowls. To read more about Dr. Kao's work, visit her website here.

What you will need:

• A blanket, yoga mat or cushion
• Headphones (optional for better sound quality)

Canada’s K-12 schools have long relied on face-to-face recruitment but the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing schools to turn to digital marketing strategies to attract Gen Z students. Using the latest IRCC data on study permits and approval rates, this session will explore what you can be doing to reach the untapped potential across new source countries, and how digital marketing tools may play a role in the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, higher education institutions faced new challenges that affected how privilege operated in the classroom. Initiatives and new resources were introduced to maximize student success. While some programs targeted incoming cohorts as a group, smaller, more individualized strategies aimed to reach those with more specific needs. Shailoo Bedi (Director, Student Academic Success) from UVIC, and Cyndi Banks (VP, Academics), Seyed Hosseinifar (Learning for Success), and Meghan Barclay (Manager, Learning Success) from UCWEST will discuss programs developed and adapted during the pandemic to support student learning and success in the virtual age. The concepts behind these projects, technologies utilized, goals, and results will be covered in detail.

This session will explore the core dimensions of how Kozminski University (Warsaw, Poland) and the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria (Victoria, Canada) were able to pivot rapidly in the summer of 2020 and create a new collaborative online-integrated learning (COIL) partnership. We will share how we collaborated with the international education departments to align pedagogical design principles, selected core faculty, and launched virtual specialization in international business in September 2020. As this format offers a cost-effective/zero carbon footprint to internationalization strategies, it will remain relevant and increase access to global learning for all students.

How can you foster belonging, genuine relationship-building, and meaningful student engagement, especially in an online world? International students face unique challenges feeling included in and building their community in post-secondary contexts. This session will introduce you to the holistic commYOUnity approach to international student programming at the University of Victoria and snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ Langara College. Engage in discussions about how to intentionally create space for and empower international students to share their diverse perspectives, cultures, and ways of understanding the world that will support them in finding a sense of inclusion throughout their post-secondary journey. Please note this session is in Zoom meeting format and may require (optional) audience video/audio participation. 

Additional Resources: 

• Building CommYOUnity: Beyond Connection Toward Belonging and Inclusion - PPT

We welcome Gwaai Edenshaw as our Artist in Residence for the duration of the conference. Gwaai will live-streaming his carving process from his studio in Haida Gwaii throughout the week.

Please join us for the live Q&A with Gwaai on Thursday, June 24th at 9:30 am and the carving reveal at our closing ceremonies on Friday, June 25th at 1:00 pm.

About the Artist

Gwaai is a Haida artist known primarily for his metalwork. He also works with a variety of media including bone, slate, and wood. Alongside being an illustrator, Gwaai also has a passion for story and language. As a founding member of the K’aalts’idaa K’ah Storytelling Society, he has had a role in numerous productions, including the Haidawood stop-motion animation suite, the Haida staging of Sounding Gambling Sticks, and as a consultant in Bruce Ruddell’s Beyond Eden. Along with a life of learning from his father, Guujaaw, Gwaai was also trained by Bill Reid. He continues to learn through the generosity of senior artists and collaborators.

A conversation with Elder Larry Grant and Jeffrey Schiffer about the conference theme, Addressing Privilege. 

• ApplyProof’s Proof of Language Proficiency & Proof of Acceptance: Maximize Admissions Efficiency & Recruitment ROI
• IDP Connect - International Student Crossroads IV: Demand for Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic
• UMAP - What is UMAP?

Featuring results from the highly anticipated International Student Crossroads IV Survey, this session will explore international student attitudes, sentiment, and intent in regard to studying abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic and what this means for Canada. Speakers will discuss international student perceptions of major destination countries and their handling of the pandemic, attitudes toward online study and transnational education, and students’ mindsets toward vaccinations and quarantine. As the fourth iteration of IDP’s Crossroads research, the session will also explore longitudinal observations in students’ responses and intent toward studying abroad. These latest student insights will be used to forecast future on-campus study demand and provide a short-term outlook for 2021 enrolment. Over the past year, IDP Connect’s Crossroads research series has given students a voice during a very uncertain time, played a critical role in lobbying to governments, and provided institutions with the granular data they needed to make the right decisions in a fast-paced and difficult environment.

Join us for a demonstration of ApplyProof, a trust solution that supports international students on their educational journey to Canada. Through partnerships with schools, ETS (TOEFL®) and Pearson Education (PTE), ApplyProof provides institutions with: 

•    Secure, transparent portability of important documents 
•    An efficient way for Immigration Officials to verify the authenticity of millions documents, in seconds, from anywhere in the world
•    Increased efficiency for admissions and maximized recruitment ROI
•    Risk mitigation in a COVID-19 digital world

Link to Join Session or View Pre-recording:
https://applyboard.zoom.us/j/93261853491?pwd=MnRSc0NoSUlydGFMbzhBaXZkQWU2Zz09
Meeting ID: 932 6185 3491

Join UMAP Program Administrator, Michelle Johnson, to learn more about UMAP, its programs, scholarships available and how your institution can join.

In early 2020, Global Village in Vancouver announced that it was closing its doors after 25 years of teaching English. Upon learning about the imminent closure of Global Village Vancouver, IDP Education Canada and ILAC sparked an immediate conversation in an effort to save hundreds of jobs and continue providing testing for thousands of international students and newcomers to Canada on the path to higher education and immigration. This led to the unique collaboration between GV, IDP, and ILAC that allowed for a seamless transition of IELTS operations and staff to the ILAC campuses in Vancouver. In this presentation, we will talk about the different challenges faced by GV, IDP and ILAC due to COVID-19 and how a strong partnership and open communication allowed us to positively impact the lives of many different people across the industry. Please note this session is in Zoom meeting format and may require (optional) audience video/audio participation. 

For many of us, 2020 was a year where we re-envisioned how to internationalize as we transitioned into a virtual campus. How do we continue to weave intercultural dimensions into domestic learning environments? How do we continue to engage stakeholders in intercultural understanding? How do we continue to celebrate International Education Week? The limits of not being in the same physical space also made way for the expansion of what and where the campus can now be – online, fully accessible from anywhere around the world with a Wi-Fi connection. Inspired by the notion of Glocalisation, KPU’s Virtual International Focus Week 2020 centered on the message of #GoingGlocal: Thinking Globally while Acting LOCALLY. We invited students, staff, and faculty to come on the virtual campus and explore ways to engage with the world from home through a video series filmed around Metro Vancouver, a virtual social event with a partner institution, and more. Join us in this session to hear our journey!

Vancouver’s Capilano University and Denmark’s VIA University College have had a very positive exchange partnership between our motion picture arts programs the past three years. Due to travel restrictions of COVID-19, we sought a different way to build our relationship. The result was a virtual Global Coproduction Film Project inspired by the theme of global sustainability. Through this project, around 20 students and six faculty from across the Atlantic worked in teams to have their films selected to screen at the Global Sustainability Short Film Alliance in June 2021. This session will showcase the unique and inspiring outcomes. Please note this session is in Zoom meeting format and may require (optional) audience video/audio participation. 

Additional Resources: 

Arms Across the Atlantic: The Global Sustainability Film Project - PPT

Practitioners and educators advocate for a globally connected and an equitable world driven by the power of transformative international student experiences. With the reality of the climate crisis and rising inequality, students with the strength of their combined voices are demanding change and the timelines for change are urgent – therein lies the opportunity for the field of international education.

Leaders in the field of international education can transform the sector in advocating and moving forward an agenda for a more just, equitable, and climate-conscious future.

This session will provide a foundational understanding of Sustainability, Climate Action, and Environmental Justice with breakout times for open conversation and dialogue.

We welcome Gwaai Edenshaw as our Artist in Residence for the duration of the conference. Gwaai will live-streaming his carving process from his studio in Haida Gwaii throughout the week.

Please join us for the live Q&A with Gwaai on Thursday, June 24th at 9:30 am and the carving reveal at our closing ceremonies on Friday, June 25th at 1:00 pm.

About the Artist

Gwaai is a Haida artist known primarily for his metalwork. He also works with a variety of media including bone, slate, and wood. Alongside being an illustrator, Gwaai also has a passion for story and language. As a founding member of the K’aalts’idaa K’ah Storytelling Society, he has had a role in numerous productions, including the Haidawood stop-motion animation suite, the Haida staging of Sounding Gambling Sticks, and as a consultant in Bruce Ruddell’s Beyond Eden. Along with a life of learning from his father, Guujaaw, Gwaai was also trained by Bill Reid. He continues to learn through the generosity of senior artists and collaborators.

The field of international student recruitment has become increasingly competitive over the past two decades and institutions are realizing that a collaborative, not competitive approach to marketing and recruitment can be a successful approach in the global marketplace. This session examines the proliferation of destination marketing organizations specializing in international education around the world and how they are making a significant impact on international student perception of specific regions. There are both challenges and opportunities when it comes to regionally based recruitment marketing efforts. This session will identify key themes when it comes to a regional approach that we can learn from to better collaborate together in the future.

This virtual professional development session will present a set of six tools to support diversity in Work Integrated Learning (WIL) and a research-driven approach for WIL practitioners to support employers in attracting, hiring, and onboarding students from international pathways. Participants will interact with the tools, developed by the ACE-WIL Research Committee, and will learn more about what employers have told us about hiring students from international pathways.

Presenters will share some of the best practices of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) integration sponsored by UMAP (University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific). UMAP is a multilateral consortia for study abroad. As a result of COVID-19, UMAP has been pivoting towards more online programming, including virtual online exchanges, micro-credential programs, and of course, the UMAP COIL program. In fact, the UMAP-COIL program has been successfully conducted since 2019, even before COVID-19. In 2021, UMAP-COIL will expand to include new features, beyond the original college-level honour program for Advanced Placement (AP) programs in high-school.

The Indigenous Study Abroad Collaborative Framework (ISACF) launched with support from a Government of Canada outbound student mobility pilot program innovation grant. Participants in the ISACF include post-secondary partners Langara College, Douglas College, and the University of the Fraser Valley along with the Coast Salish Peoples of the Musquem, QayQayt, Kwikwetlem, and Stó:lō First Nations. Stage 1 of the ISACF set out to establish the guiding principles, operational elements, and student-focused strategies for barrier reduction in an effort to create a multi-year community-to-community collaboration aimed at decolonizing education abroad.

Ready for lunch? Join hosts of the "Now Serving" online cooking show, Savannah and Sarah from Global Engagement at the University of the Fraser Valley as they walk us though the steps to make a traditional Polish dish: Babcia’s Polish Lazanki. All experience levels are welcome.

To find more videos of Savannah and Sarah's innovative student outreach and engagement, visit their Facebook page here. 
Ingredients:

• Avocado oil
• Salt
• Sauerkraut
• 1 onion
• Pasta of choice, dry
• Ground beef or mushrooms 
• Vegeta – seasoning

Cooking tools:

• 2 pans
• 1 pot
• 1 bowl
• 1 wood spoon

Join the Summer Conference Book Club for a vibrant and interactive dialogue about the novel Washington Black by Bestselling Canadian writer, and our very own keynote, Esi Edugyan. To guarantee an engaging conversation, we request that all attendees read Washington Black and come prepared to learn, question and get involved in the discussion.

This session will be limited to 50 participants and facilitated by Kate Jennings and Catherine Vertesi. Special guests include:

• Shad Kabango, former CBC host, artist, and Canada Reads Participant
• Silvia Caicedo, learning facilitator and professor at George Brown College

If you plan to purchase the book, we encourage you to buy local and support a nearby independent.

Interested in having a 1-on-1 meeting with a Trade Commissioner? 

Over 15 Trade Commissioners will be available for 15-minute B2B meetings with Summer Conference attendees. Be sure to reach out directly to request a meeting. 

DECOLONIZING INTERNAITONAL EDUCATION

Watch, re-watch or listen (on Spotify) some of our morning coffee series videos. Our Morning Coffee Series proposes to take just ten minutes of your time to meet pioneers and leaders both familiar, sage, and longstanding, as well as new and innovative. Speakers will explore issues and topics crucial to the conversations we should be having. 

Join Gillian for a 45-minute yin yoga class for all bodies. In this gentle yoga practice, we will playfully explore our edges and meet our bodies and minds with grace and kindness. With an intention of releasing what doesn't serve us and creating space for self-compassion, this class will leave you feeling calm, clear and ready for your day.

To find out more about Gillian's work, visit her website here.

Interested in having a 1-on-1 meeting with a Trade Commissioner?

Over 15 Trade Commissioners will be available for 15-minute B2B meetings with Summer Conference attendees. Be sure to reach out directly to request a meeting. 

Colleges have long been points of access to post-secondary education for traditionally marginalized groups including Indigenous peoples, women, adult learners, and newcomers, offering pathways into the labour or further education. As we grapple with the ramifications of the pandemic on traditionally marginalized groups, combined with the ongoing impact to education as work evolves and displaced workers seek ways to upskill or reskill, learners are looking for non-traditional ways of accessing education or the workforce. With the launch of a new credential type, microcredentials, and the proliferation of post-graduate certificates, colleges offer a variety of pathways for all types of learners. Join CICan’s Denise Amyot, Anna Toneguzzo, and Holly Skelton to learn about CICan’s research on microcredentials and post-graduate certificates, and the access they offer all learners. 

Additional Resources: 

• Colleges and institutes – Pathways for All - PPT

Addressing privilege within our education systems is imperative to an institution’s internationalization plan. This interactive session will explore how using intercultural competence frameworks can help in addressing privilege in our institutions. Strategies for implementing the competencies into the different institutional levels from senior management to staff, faculty, and students will be explored. We will present frameworks by drawing from three models in the intercultural field and explore how the competencies can be implemented. Please note this session is in Zoom meeting format and may require (optional) audience video/audio participation. 

Unfortunately this session has been cancelled. 

This session will bring you two case studies of international research mobility programs from both coasts. The presenters will demonstrate how program administration can contribute to lowering barriers for faculty members and students to participate in international research mobility programs.

About the Artist 

Gwaai is a Haida artist known primarily for his metalwork. He also works with a variety of media including bone, slate, and wood.

Alongside being an illustrator, Gwaai also has a passion for story and language. As a founding member of the K’aalts’idaa K’ah Storytelling Society, he has had a role in numerous productions, including the Haidawood stop-motion animation suite, the Haida staging of Sounding Gambling Sticks, and as a consultant in Bruce Ruddell’s Beyond Eden.

Along with a life of learning from his father, Guujaaw, Gwaai was also trained by Bill Reid. He continues to learn through the generosity of senior artists and collaborators.

Intercultural competence building is imperative for moving towards a more inclusive and anti-racist world. As educators it is not only our responsibility to build competencies that can help bridge world views and create space for understanding and change, but we are also positioned to be great leaders in this space. In this session (we) will discuss how we can and should be having intentional conversations and fostering collaboration to ensure that we are amplifying justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) in all of the work we do.

As education sectors in BC and Canada chart their own paths to recovery, it is instructive to look at the experiences and successes of colleagues, institutions and communities in two jurisdictions similarly invested in international education, specifically New Zealand and Ireland. IE Leaders from the University of Auckland and University College Dublin will share their experiences and best practices moving forward. 

Join UMAP Program Administrator, Michelle Johnson, to learn more about UMAP, its programs, scholarships available and how your institution can join.

• ApplyProof’s Proof of Language Proficiency & Proof of Acceptance: Maximize Admissions Efficiency & Recruitment ROI
• UMAP - What is UMAP?

Join us for a demonstration of ApplyProof, a trust solution that supports international students on their educational journey to Canada. Through partnerships with schools, ETS (TOEFL®) and Pearson Education (PTE), ApplyProof provides institutions with: 

•    Secure, transparent portability of important documents 
•    An efficient way for Immigration Officials to verify the authenticity of millions documents, in seconds, from anywhere in the world
•    Increased efficiency for admissions and maximized recruitment ROI
•    Risk mitigation in a COVID-19 digital world
 

Link to join session: https://applyboard.zoom.us/j/95082866780?pwd=ZkxxaDk4SFIyT0t1RDdRdERvaU5pUT09
Meeting ID: 950 8286 6780

The COVID-19 global pandemic has transformed our sector and we will discuss how innovative workflows, advances in technology, and the willingness to try something new have created opportunities to create a greener sector. The path forward for more sustainable recruitment practices provides a great opportunity for an inclusive and responsible approach to international post-secondary recruitment and education. (Updated)

There’s no question that technology is having, and will continue to have, a profound impact on our daily lives. Homestay is no exception. For instance, we are already seeing a disruption to the homestay industry by new technology-based players offering self-booking online, and COVID-19 has challenged our assumptions about using virtual tools for check-ins with both hosts and students. Join us for a workshop session to discuss, brainstorm, and imagine the future of homestay, post-COVID-19, from a technological perspective.

In our constantly changing environment, it has been a challenge for many to understand what regional partners have, and likely are still experiencing in handling the day-to-day challenges of the COVID pandemic. Agents attending ICEF 2020 and 2021 Virtual events have been surveyed to voice their experiences and movement towards the 2021 and 2022 recruitment seasons. Participants of this session will get an overview of:

• Operations - how has the business continued to change for agent partners
• International and regional challenges
• Sector overviews and benefits for agents to recruit
• Marketing and communication virtually – the new normal
• Diversifying agent markets and student redirection in/out of specific regions

COVID19 has given us the opportunity to re-evaluate and think differently about higher education student mobility. Canada, under the leadership of Vancouver Community College, holds the UMAP International Secretariat for the next five years. Using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) as an anchor for strategic planning, the UMAP consortium is planning and implementing for the next iteration of higher education student mobility – with values of diversity, equity and inclusion at its core. As the National Secretariat for Canada, BCCIE coordinates the UMAP Canada membership in outreach and engagement activities for these important conversations. Join this session to learn more about the UMAP consortium, the strategic plan for 2021-25, and how your institution can join today.

Additional Resources: 

Expanding Horizons in Higher Education Mobility -- University Mobility in Asia and the Pacific (UMAP) - PPT

We welcome Gwaai Edenshaw as our Artist in Residence for the duration of the conference. Gwaai will live-streaming his carving process from his studio in Haida Gwaii throughout the week.

Please join us for the live Q&A with Gwaai on Thursday, June 24th at 9:30 am and the carving reveal at our closing ceremonies on Friday, June 25th at 1:00 pm.

About the Artist

Gwaai is a Haida artist known primarily for his metalwork. He also works with a variety of media including bone, slate, and wood. Alongside being an illustrator, Gwaai also has a passion for story and language. As a founding member of the K’aalts’idaa K’ah Storytelling Society, he has had a role in numerous productions, including the Haidawood stop-motion animation suite, the Haida staging of Sounding Gambling Sticks, and as a consultant in Bruce Ruddell’s Beyond Eden. Along with a life of learning from his father, Guujaaw, Gwaai was also trained by Bill Reid. He continues to learn through the generosity of senior artists and collaborators.

As the landscape in international education across all regions constantly changes, we are all left to wonder, what does our road to recovery look like here in Canada? Drawing from our latest agent surveys and other research, this session will focus on global data trends from across the sector, providing an extensive analysis of the Canadian situation and outlook for international students and their evolving choices and considerations. Taking a comparative approach, we will be providing an analysis on the outlook of UK and Australia as well.

What type of preparation do we offer students and faculty engaging in academic mobility? How do we ensure field schools and semesters abroad mean more than an international experience to add to a resume? How do we go from “going abroad” to “learning abroad”? In this session, we will discuss the work we are doing through a CICan funded project to develop diverse means of cultural introspection as a non-traditional approach to intercultural learning and competence development. We will talk about using stories, cultural autobiographies, and more hands-on approaches such as creative journaling as alternatives to euro-centric intercultural competence development approaches.

Additional Resources: 

• Toward Decolonizing International Exchange and Academic Mobility - PPT

In this session, we will discuss the tensions, challenges, and rewards of implementing layered strategies for addressing privilege in the delivery of a fully online intercultural learning opportunity that is explicitly social justice orientated. We explain our ongoing practices of collaborative curriculum development, review, and redevelopment. We wrestle with the complexities of addressing multifaceted operations of privilege and oppression among students in online learning environments. Finally, we discuss our methods for being accountable for our own privileges and exercises of power, and how we work to try to ensure that they are leveraged in service to social justice agendas.

Using data from the 2021 QS International Student Survey, this presentation will explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted perceptions of Canada and other countries as international study destinations, and what institutions can do to reassure future students that they remain a safe and welcoming study destination.

Additional Resources:

• Quantifying the Impact of COVID-19 on International Student Perceptions of Canada and Other Key Study Destinations - PPT

Mexico remains the second most important source country in Latin America for international students to Canada and BC. Delegates from various Post-Secondary Institutions in different jurisdictions across Mexico will make themselves available for 15-minute B2B meetings with Summer Conference attendees to discuss current and emerging educational partnership opportunities between Mexico and BC. For further information on attending institutions and areas sought for partnership and collaboration, please click here.    

Colin Doerr, Director of External Relations at BCCIE and Gabriel Olivella, Coordinator of Programs and Events, will be available for meeting scheduling support and general networking amongst the delegation. 

Education Trade Commissioner, Veronica Soto, from the Consulate of Canada in Guadalajara will be available during this time to take meetings and support participants in the strengthening of existing and emerging partnership opportunities in Mexico. 

The delegation will be available for B2B meetings outside the designated session, pending availability.

Get up and moving with the famous Yukon-based Bhangra dance artist, Gurdeep Pandher. You may recognize him from his viral videos, combining his passion for Bhangra dancing with the beauty of nature and the outdoors while spreading joy, hope and positivity during the pandemic. 

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS' MENTAL HEALTH

Watch, re-watch or listen (on Spotify) some of our morning coffee series videos. Our Morning Coffee Series proposes to take just ten minutes of your time to meet pioneers and leaders both familiar, sage, and longstanding, as well as new and innovative. Speakers will explore issues and topics crucial to the conversations we should be having. 

Join Dr. Yishin Khoo, member of True Peace Toronto, for a mindfulness meditation session based on the Zen Buddhist teachings of the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

What is mindfulness meditation? Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly alive, present and at one with those around you and with what you are doing. In practicing together as a Sangha, as a community, our practice of mindfulness becomes more joyful, relaxed and steady. We are bells of mindfulness for each other, supporting and reminding each other along the path of practice. With the support of the community, we can practice to cultivate peace and joy within and around us, as a gift for all of those we love and care for. We can cultivate our solidity and freedom - solid in our deepest aspiration and free from our fears, misunderstandings and our suffering.

Esi was born the daughter of Ghanian immigrants in Calgary, Alberta. Echoes of their experience can be found in her literary debut, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award.

While on a fellowship in Stuttgart, Germany, Esi began research for what would become her stunning second novel, Half-Blood Blues which O, the Oprah Magazine named one of the best books of the year. It was awarded the Scotiabank Giller Prize and earned nominations for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Award for English language fiction, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

She is also the author of Dreaming of Elsewhere: Observations on Home and 2018’s Washington Black, which received a rapturous reception, being named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Slate, TIME and Entertainment Weekly, was one of President Obama’s Favorite Books of 2018, and was a New York Times Bestseller. Esi lives in Victoria, BC with her husband, the novelist and poet Steven Price, and their two children.

For more information about this speaker, please visit www.lyceumagency.com/speakers/esi-edugyan/

Talented students, Amber and Alvin, a guitar and singing duo from the Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies program at Capilano University perform amazing bossa nova songs for us with a jazzy twist. More songs from this talented up-and-coming pair can be found on their Bandcamp page here.  

How can you best combine powerful technology and data with traditional student recruitment practices to have the biggest impact on your strategic enrolment goals? In international student recruitment, we have been quick to adopt new technologies and harness the power of data. While the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we use data and technology, our experience shows us that students still rely on a human element to help make their education decisions. This session will explore how you can combine the best of both worlds to achieve your recruitment goals moving forward.

Additional Resources:

• Humans vs. Robots: Embracing Technology and Data Without Compromising the Human Element

Post-COVID-19, governments, institutions, and businesses will continue to dramatically change how we utilize technology. Digitization will continue to transform the very ways we think about identity and the documents that international education depends on. This session introduces the Canadian Digital Charter and the Pan Canadian Trust Framework, which will shape digital interactions of government, institutions, businesses, and students into the next decade and beyond. Principles of the Charter include Universal Access, Interoperability, and Security. Ensuring the digital future is inclusive and not only for people with economic, cultural, or social privilege is at the heart of these initiatives.

Successful international student programs require the interplay of numerous complex factors. Agility and the ability to pivot are crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. Internationalization demands institution-wide collaboration and capacity in terms of infrastructure support, intercultural awareness, effective communications, staff training and community engagement, in addition to marketing, promotion, social media, recruitment, retention, and operational administration. In this session you will learn the skills, strategies, and recommendations for developing and maintaining a systemic capacity-building model for your international student program.

• UMAP - What is UMAP?

Join UMAP Program Administrator, Michelle Johnson, to learn more about UMAP, its programs, scholarships available and how your institution can join.

This session is an opportunity for attendees to meet with other international educators who are trying to negotiate what the return to campus is going to look like for international student support come the fall. This session will be an open conversation led by a facilitator; this is your opportunity to share and learn with other participants.  Come to this session ready to interact, ask questions and trouble shoot together as a group!

This session is an opportunity for attendees to meet with other international educators who are trying to negotiate what study abroad is going to look like in the fall. Come to this session ready to interact, ask questions and trouble shoot together as a group!

Want a chance to engage or ask a question about EDI? This session is for you! This interactive session provides an opportunity for attendees to meet other international educators interested in discussing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in International Education. Come to this facilitated group discussion ready to interact, workshop problems, share best practices and lessons learned!

•    Closing remarks by Randall Martin, Executive Director at the BC Council for International Education. 
•    BCCIE International Education Awards Ceremony. The 12th iteration of the Awards Ceremony will recognize the professionalism, dedication, and efforts of an exemplary group of experts and practitioners in the field of international education in British Columbia. For more details and to find out about the categories, visit our Awards page here.

•    Mask reveal by artist in residence, Gwaai Edenshaw. Gwaai will uncover and share with attendees the end result of his work carving a Haida mask started at the beginning of the conference. 

•    Traditional closing of the BCCIE Summer Conference by Stz’uminus First Nation performer, song composer, and motivational speaker Patrick Aleck (Xwaluputhut).  

Stop by the Virtual Exhibit Hall to view sponsor booths and meet with a sponsor representative for your chance to WIN one of these great prizes: 

BCCIE - (1) x Summer Conference 2022 Full Conference Pass 

Meet with the sponsors below for your chance to win a sponsored prize! 

• World Education Services (WES) - (2) x $50 Indigo gift cards
• British Council IELTS Canada - (1) x $100 Mastercard gift card

Prize winners will be announced at our closing ceremonies on Friday, June 25.