Enrolment at St. Clair College reaches 10,000

by Maryam Fang

St. Clair College has broken the 10,000 student ceiling in enrolment this year.
The College announced it had enrolled 10,539 students by the end of the first week of the new academic year.
This represents a 12 per cent increase from 2016. The Thames campus in Chatham had a six per cent increase compared with 2016’s results.
“The quality of the programs is helpful. Over the past 10 years, St. Clair College has very much become a community partner,” said Michael Silvaggi, associate vice president, student services and registrar. “We’ve consciously tried to become more involved in the area.”
This is the second consecutive year of increases to the college’s enrolment. In 2016, the college saw a nine per cent increase in enrolment compared to 2015.
The top three programs chosen by most students in St. Clair are computer networking, international business management and the nursing program.
There are 1,100 international students today, which is a 90 per cent increase from 2016.
“We needed to look at where our growth was coming from,” said Silvaggi. “The international market is a significant source of that growth.”
Adjustments were made at St. Clair College to support international students. These adjustments include the housing system and finding homes in the community.
There has been more orientation sessions than in the past. The faculty have been helpful in assisting international students in terms of catching up what they missed when they arrive later than usual, predominantly from India, because of the visa processing time.
There has also been assistance in getting drivers’ licenses and bus passes for international students.
“We don’t want to treat an international student any different from a domestic student. Having said that there are some realities in terms of somebody who has traveled so far in a strange environment,” said Ronald Seguin, vice president, international relations, training and campus development. “We’re reacting more because we are a school that has never dealt with this before, so we need to increase the services to international students.”
The top three countries students come from to join St. Clair are India, China and Nigeria.
They are also coming from many other parts of the world. Some live in the college residence while others choose to live in the community.
“One of the reasons I didn’t live in the dorm is that there isn’t a kitchen or any place to cook, and I can’t afford ordering food every day and it’s also unhealthy,” said Saeed El Shibiny, an Egyptian student in the mobile applications program at St. Clair.
Seguin said they are looking at solutions to help students cook in the residence home. This has been one of the top complaints from many of the students.
The most popular programs among international students are computer networking, international business management and post-graduate programs like human resources.
“I think we’re going to see another record in January,” said Seguin. “I think you will see 500 new additional students this January.”
There are international students coming from 65 different countries.
“I don’t think 11,000 students for next year is a stretch. I think we’ll be there,” said Seguin.