Application, Selection and Preparation Process
1. Nomination Deadline
Partner institution representatives (usually your Global Programs or Exchange Coordinator) must first nominate students to us by emailing emays@centennialcollege.ca with the following information for the student(s):
- Full Name
- Date of birth
- Program at home institution
- Intended Term of study
- Email address
2. Application Deadline
Students must then submit complete the Study at Centennial applications online. All application and supporting documents must be uploaded to our online system called the Global Experience Portal (https://ge.centennialcollege.ca). You will need to make sure you are completing the correct application for your semester (eg. Winter or Fall)
As part of the application, students will be asked to upload:
- Official Transcript
- Copy of Passport
- Proof of English proficiency test
- List of courses requesting to be taken at Centennial
3. Application Review
After the application deadline, we will review all applications, ensure students have met the English requirements, and will get permission from the Program Chair and Coordinator to accept you into the program. This can be a longer process as we may need to check if you have the required prior knowledge to take the list of courses desire to take. Students looking to take courses from multiple programs will wait longer as we have consult with more Administrators.
4. Decisions
If all requirements are met, we will issue a Letter of Acceptance, email it and upload it to the online Global Experience portal. At this point, we will send students an email with more information for how to prepare for their arrival.
5. Preparation
In the months prior to arrival, students will need to make accommodation arrangements and pay for their mandatory insurance fee, among other things. A few weeks before the semester begins, we will register student in the appropriate courses and will inform you of any changes that are required. The Global Experience team will lead 3 Pre Departure Orientation meetings via ZOOM to help prepare students ahead of time.
These meetings will cover the following critical topics:
- Session One: Managing your Acceptance, Applying for Visas, Finding Housing, Budgeting and Living in Toronto
- Session Two: Understanding the College and its resources, Academic considerations, Course Selection and scheduling, Insurance, Pre-departure preparation, critical timelines.
- Session Three: Risk and safety considerations, preparing for travel and arrival, the Global Experience program, Academic orientations and other important information.
For all cohorts, we make an effort for students to get to know each other ahead of time and to build friendships before they arrive. While they are on the ground we will engage in GE programming that is meant to give the students an orientation to the city and its cultural and historical significance and which aims to build an intercultural team and ultimately, network for each cohort. We will provide students with an activity monthly for connection.
7. Measuring Success
Our Global Experience Team is continuously reviewing our program and process to ensure our exchange students are well supported throughout their experience. To do this we capture feedback before, mid-way and at the end of each program. The feedback compiled helps us identify key goals and support individual adjustment and team development as we anticipate each cohort coming in. We are able to direct students to the appropriate resources at the college and ensure we are aware of any learning, social or medical needs. Our mid-way check ins provide us with critical insights into how our students are doing at a time when their academic settling and physical adjustment has happened. Through this we are able to make time sensitive interventions as needed. Finally at the end of our program our students rate and assess the program, their growth in key areas of Intercultural Fluency and Global experience and their academic program. Throughout their time we provide touchpoints with our team at monthly social events and we have regular open office hours for drop ins.