08:00 – 08:45: Registration + Breakfast
08:45 – 09:00: Opening Remarks
09:00 - 10:30 - Panel: Navigating the Future of International Education
Moderated by Larissa Bezo, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Canadian Bureau for International Education, this session will offer perspectives from institutional leaders about the recent policy Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) in January 2024. Together, they will discuss how to ensure the success of individual international students and enable Canada to benefit from their training and skills, securing Canada’s long-term position as a top destination for international education.
This session has been approved by CICC for 1.5 hours of CPD.
10:30 – 10:45: Health Break
10:45 - 12:00 - International Student Recruitment in the New Canadian Reality
This session will explore the new complexities of international student recruitment in Canada and provide insights on how recruiters can navigate these challenges effectively. The presentation will examine emerging global trends, discuss Canada’s reputation as an education destination, and offer practical approaches to differentiate individual institutions in a competitive market. Key topics include strategies for engaging with prospective students, boosting study permit conversion rates, and maintaining diversity within the international student body. Additionally, the session will offer data-driven insights and best practices to integrate into your own institution’s approach to recruitment.
Presenter:
- Mike Henniger, Chief Executive Officer, Illume Student Advisory Services
12:00 – 13:30: Lunch + Networking
12:00 - 13:30 - International Relations Networking
To all international educators who facilitate international partnerships or relations, please join one of CBIE’s International Relations Professional Learning Community’s (IR-PLC) steering committee members from Manitoba if you are interested in learning more about IR-PLC.
13:30 - 14:45 - Concurrent Session: Proactive Tactics for Media Engagement
In this session, we will discuss how you can be proactive on potential issues before they become media stories. As well as answer the questions of who should speak on behalf of your institution, when, and how to prepare them properly. Bring your questions for the Q&A session following the presentation.
Presenter:
- Eleanor Coopsammy, Director, Media Relations and Issues Management, University of Manitoba
13:30 - 14:45 - Concurrent Session: Expanding Networks: Building Relationships Between Students with Empathy Strategies
Kevin Dueck is the principal of Westwood Collegiate, a public high school in Winnipeg known for its exceptional arts, athletics, and Advanced Placement programs. Kevin will provide strategies for optimizing staff and student communication. He gives a practical overview of team networking and outlines specific strategies to enhance engagement and authenticity with high-achieving groups of students and staff, focusing specifically on international students. He holds a master’s degree in education and has served as the International Baccalaureate Head of School and as a coordinator for Advanced Placement. Kevin’s team won the outstanding administrator MBA award in 2021. This award honours a current school administrator who has made an outstanding contribution to music education in Manitoba.
Presenter:
- Kevin Dueck, Principal, Westwood Collegiate
13:30 - 14:45 - Concurrent Session: 2023 CBIE Learning Abroad Survey Results
CBIE will present key findings from a national data collection exercise on learning abroad that was held in the spring of 2023. This initiative aimed to deepen understanding of the Canadian outbound mobility landscape and surface trends to inform evidence-based decision-making and foster an inclusive and supportive ecosystem for future learning abroad programming. The presentation will offer insights from data contributed by post-secondary institutions across Canada. To contextualize the lived experience, data collected from students and alumni learning abroad participants will also be presented.
Presenter:
- Melissa Toupin-Laforge, Associate Director, Research and Learning, Canadian Bureau for International Education
14:45 – 15:00: Health Break
15:00 - 16:15 - Concurrent Session: Changing Demand and Perceptions of Canada: The Latest Data for Manitoba and Beyond
In this session, speakers will showcase global policy updates, student demand trends across Canada with a focus on Manitoba, and IDP regional feedback on IRCC policy announcements. The session will also discuss the latest student survey results, revealing changing perceptions of Canada as a destination country following the recent policy changes.
Presenter:
- Prem Modha, Associate Head of Partnerships, Special Projects, Canada
- Christine Wach, Senior Vice President, Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement, USA & Canada
15:00 - 16:15 - Concurrent Session: EAL Assessment, Orientation and Intake Strategies
With approximately 600 EAL students and 47 different spoken languages in their student population of 1200, DMCI has the one of the largest and most comprehensive EAL programs in Manitoba. Beyond EAL, Lorraine’s team develops acculturation strategies essential for student success not only in the classroom, but in the community. Lorraine and her co-worker won the Manitoba Excellence in Teaching Award for creating an efficient and successful three-day reception process complete with an initial assessment and an orientation process which includes a variety of workshops by the EAL teachers.
In this session, participants will learn about the intake process of newcomer students and assessment practices at Daniel McIntyre Collegiate and how this process works with international students specifically. Bring your questions for a Q&A to follow presentation.
Presenter:
- Lorraine Ilagan, EAL Department Head/Intake, Assessment, and Resource, Daniel McIntyre Collegiate Institute
16:15 – 19:00: Networking Event
