The College of the Rockies in British Columbia has been voted the best post-secondary institution for international student satisfaction in the world for the second year running, in i-graduate’s International Student Barometer.
This is also the third consecutive year that it has claimed the top spot in Canada.
“We have an incredibly dedicated team that works hard every day to support students but also push them to become more independent”
The college came first in all four categories – arrival experience, learning, living and support – in the global survey.
“We have an incredibly dedicated team that works hard every day to support students but also push them to become more independent,” Jeff Cooper, COTR’s international education manager, told The PIE News.
“Our college support staff, faculty and management, as well as our community, recognises the positive benefits international students bring to our college and our community, and I think the results of the ISB survey reflect their overall satisfaction starting from their arrival to their experiences in learning, living and in terms of the support they receive.”
The high levels of student satisfaction can partly be credited to COTR’s student services, Cooper said, which extend beyond academic support.
For example, every new student is met at the airport and taken directly to their accommodation and the international office has a free ‘international telephone’ that students can use.
COTR’s 70 host families were also ranked the best in the world, with students giving feedback on the welcome they receive, quality and condition of the accommodation, and cost.
“We coordinate our own homestay programme so we have complete control over what students get placed with which families,” Cooper said.
“Our families are amazing and they are part of the programme for the right reasons – i.e., for the cultural experience and to make our students feel welcome first and foremost; not for the money.”
A low overall cost of living in Cranbrook, the small city where the main campus is situated, enables the college to keep the price of accommodation down, Cooper added.
Around 200 international students study at COTR every year, coming from 38 countries in 2014/15 to enrol on programmes ranging from business to tourism to English language study.
Delivered by market insight firm i-graduate, the International Student Barometer is the world’s largest survey of foreign student satisfaction. This year’s survey was conducted over a two-week period at the end of 2014 and was answered by students from 183 post-secondary institutions in 18 countries.
