Algonquin held its first ever Degree Pathways and International Opportunities Fair and drew in over 400 students seeking information to help plan their futures on Nov. 12.
The fair, which was held in Salon A from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., was held to improve the awareness and bring opportunities to students who want to continue post-secondary education after graduating from college.
“Provincially a large number of students are transferring,” said Renay Dixon, Algonquin’s transfer credit coordinator and organizer of the event. “We’re looking at 40 per cent of students that transfer go from college to university.”
Booths were set up with representatives for universities in Canada, the United-States and overseas. They included UOttawa and Athabasca University, with which the college has over 90 agreements, and universities from Ireland and Australia.
We’re really trying to encourage or increase the awareness of these opportunities for students and make sure that they know that the process is really easy, very straight-forward and not as intimidating as it sounds,” said Dixon.
Students who registered for the fair filled out a short survey asking them questions about their goals and ideals for further education. The college is going to use the information as a tool to build new agreements with other institutions.
“We’re really going to focus on building concise agreements that students are excited about because we are excited to offer them,” said Dixon.
“In the end (students) will select what is best for them, for their situation,” said Harpreet Singh academic manager of curriculum services. “But our job is to provide them with that variety as well so that they are not stuck with ‘I just have to be there and there’s no other option for me.’”