FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2019
Halifax, Nova Scotia
EduNova Co-operative Ltd.
HALIFAX— With a new school year coming soon, thousands of international students will be flying into Nova Scotia to start their post-secondary studies.
To ease the transition into Canada, EduNova is once again running an Airport Welcome Desk. Designed to ensure arriving students’ first experience in Nova Scotia is positive and memorable, students are greeted by friendly faces at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
“Travelling overseas can be exhausting and stressful. The Airport Welcome Desk is the first step in making students feel at home in Nova Scotia as soon as they arrive,” said Rob Batherson, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of EduNova. “Students are more inclined to stay after graduation if they feel they can build a fulfilling life in the province.”
From August 23 to August 31, the annual Airport Welcome Desk will be staffed by ten student ambassadors who speak 14 languages. They help international student arrivals from all over the world—providing a welcoming and safe space for travellers to contact their family via text, access free Wi-Fi, wait for transfers to accommodation and ask questions.
Welcome Desk ambassadors are international students themselves, studying or working in Nova Scotia. One ambassador and international student Leen Romaneh said, “I found the Welcome Desk to be extremely helpful for students, especially the ones travelling on their own. I enjoyed the interactions I had, and the feedback from students I talked to was overwhelmingly positive. We were the first people to greet them, and that put them at ease about coming to Canada and meeting international students who have graduated!”
Last year, 652 international students used the Airport Welcome Desk. Since 2016, a total of 1,582 international students have utilized this service.
In 2018-2019, 15,000 international students came to Nova Scotia to study – an increase of 15 percent.
This year, Bed Bath & Beyond have joined as a sponsoring partner. They will supply arriving international students with quality tote bags, an exclusive discount coupon, a Canadian student “essential” item, campus-specific shopping lists, and free pack and hold services. The Airport Welcome Desk project is made possible through funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and collaborative efforts from Nova Scotia’s post-secondary institutions.
FOR THE EDITOR
EduNova Co-operative Ltd. is a non-profit association of education and training providers based in Nova Scotia, Canada. Through its 2019-2024 strategic plan, working with its members, EduNova is focused on collaborative recruitment, student retention and internalization of the student experience.
EduNova’s membership includes all 10 universities, the 13-campus Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), the public K-12 schools through the Nova Scotia International Student Program (NSISP), independent schools and private language schools. EduNova’s mandate is to co-ordinate the international marketing efforts of Nova Scotia’s education and training sector.
Established in 2004, EduNova has over 15 years of experience in organizing and managing provincial and federal trade missions, recruitment trips, familiarization tours, agent/counsellor events, and other student attraction and retention initiatives and activities. For more information about EduNova, please visit www.studynovascotia.ca.
EVENT DETAILS
The majority of student arrivals will occur on Agust 28 and August 29 – we encourage media to join us then.
Dates: Friday, August 23, to Saturday, August 31, 2019, 8:00 AM-3:00 AM
Venue: Halifax Stanfield International Airport
Media contact:
Contact: Jane Gaffney
Telephone: +1-902-406-7447
Email: jane@edunova.ca
Website: http://studynovascotia.ca/