Lucknow: A majority of the 47 Canadian colleges and universities, which participated in a recent survey by the Institute for Career Studies (ICS), Academica Group and Worldwide EduConnect Inc, stated that they will accept the internal assessments moderated by boards like the CBSE (91%), ISC (85%) and IB (85%), while considering admission applications from Indian students.
To recall, board examinations in India were cancelled following the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this ended months of uncertainty and stress for roughly 1.4 million students, it introduced new uncertainties about their future as they applied for higher education admissions.
Students, parents, schools and government leaders wanted to know how postsecondary institutions around the world would assess admission applications from India.
ICS, therefore, spearheaded a global initiative to gather the perspectives of worldwide campuses and their plans for assessing and admitting Indian students without board exams. The survey also included questions about existing and desired partnerships with Indian universities/colleges.
The Canada part of this global survey, conducted from July to September 2021, is complete.
Dr Amrita Dass, Founder-Director, ICS, said, “Such accurate and timely information will facilitate students in making informed decisions. The survey findings show a high regard for National Boards among Canadian colleges and universities. In addition, there’s heartening news about scholarships on offer and paid internship opportunities for students as they pursue their courses.”
Canada is among the top study abroad destinations. The Indian student population in Canada quadrupled from 2015 (48,765 students) to 2019 (219,855).
The participating institutions included University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, University of Waterloo, University of Alberta, Queen’s University, Carleton University and Dalhousie University among others.
Key Insights from the Survey:
- Most institutions are extending their deadline for Indian schools to submit Grade 12 results (64%). Several stated that they would extend the deadline well into the Fall semester.
- The majority were giving equal consideration to courses completed through hybrid, online, and flexible learning models (96%).
- The factors that were deemed most important in admission decisions were: Grade 12 exam results (93%), AP Grades (61%) or Grade 10 exams results (43%).
- None said they would use SATs / ACTs, and very few intended to create their own entrance tests (7%). Most said they accepted transnational education degrees (70%).
- Post pandemic, the number of scholarships and scholarship amounts had either increased or not changed at all, said the majority of respondents.
- Most (96%) offered programmes with work-integrated learning opportunities. Over 64% of these were paid opportunities.
- As many as 72% respondents do not have any partnerships with Indian schools, but 53% expressed interest in exploring options such as joint programmes with Indian educational institutions.
