International students in the Canadian province of New Brunswick will benefit from two new “centres of excellence” to provide them knowledge of “key industries”, developers have said.
Each centre of excellence, set up exclusively to help overseas students at elementary, middle school and secondary school levels, will focus on the areas of entrepreneurship and mental health.
“They will allow students to gain insight into key industries”
“[The students] are given a chance to interact with and learn from experts in their fields, regardless of their location in the province,” Canadian education minister Dominic Cardy said upon the announcement.
“They will allow students to gain insight into key industries,” he added.
The entrepreneurship centre will look to strengthen participating students’ financial literacy, as well as the vital business skills needed to understand the entrepreneurial sphere.
The other centre, the “centre of excellence for health”, will focus on giving students classroom activities geared towards mindfulness practices, emotion regulation, self-esteem and managing anxiety and stress.
“Our province continues to experience labour force challenges, which is why these centres of excellence are essential to preparing students for the many opportunities available to them,” said Trevor Holder, New Brunswick minister of post-secondary education, training and labour.
The centres will be open to “any international students in any K-12 schools in New Brunswick’s anglophone school district,” according to a government official for the province.
The centres of excellence are “not yet” accessible to francophone students, which also has a school district presence in the province. There is no word on whether plans for an expansion into francophone classes or availability will be announced.
Opportunities New Brunswick head Arlene Dunn voiced her delight: “Participants will develop skills through [the entrepreneurship] centre that they can undoubtedly use for the rest of their lives.”
After an encouraging rebound to “near pre-pandemic levels” of immigration last year, the province accepted 40 children as new permanent residents among over 5,000 people accepted into the province in 2021, doubling the figure of 2020.
The children have arrived in New Brunswick under sponsorship and immigration programs.
“Experiential learning is becoming increasingly important and these centres play a crucial role in the development and engagement of our future workers,” Holder added.
An earlier centre of excellence for Energy was launched in April 2021.
