Challenges that international students face in Canada
Take a walk on the TRU campus and you will notice people from different backgrounds. Among them are international students who strive to live and study successfully in Kamloops every day. These students face a number of challenges including lack of familiar foodstuffs, poor public transportation, homesickness, limited accommodation options among others.It is important to improve the experiences of these international students and allow them opportunities to integrate well in the Kamloops community.
Moving to a new country is challenging enough, but imagine not having familiar foodstuffs. This can lead to being homesick, it can affect your mental health leading to other complications and more challenges.
These social issues affecting international students need to be addressed by the city of Kamloops in collaboration with TRU. These improvements would not only be good for international students but they would also positively impact the lives and opportunities for the natives of Kamloops.
Transportation
The City of Kamloops can improve the public transportation by including more routes and bus frequency on those routes throughout the week. With more bus routes and more buses, movement between different parts of the city will be more effective. As we know housing is another challenge, therefore more bus routes can allow students to live further away from the university thus allowing for more housing options.
On campus housing
On campus housing is not enough, we need more housing options as the number of international students continues to increase in our city. North Tower is a great option for on-campus housing but to address the increase in the number of students at TRU we will need more than just one North Tower.
References
Banit, O. L. G. A., Babushko, S. V. I. T. L. A. N. A., & Baranova, L. I. L. I. A. (2021). Academic, Social and Cultural Adaptation of International Students in Canada.
Bimpong, B. K. (2023). Challenges Facing African International Students at Research Universities in the United States. Journal of Education and Teaching Methods, 2(4), 1-16.