St. Clair cleared to receive international students

College has plans in place to oversee mandatory 14-day quarantine period

St. Clair College will welcome several hundred first-time international students to Canada in just a few weeks time.

A college plan to ensure the safety of international and domestic students in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic was recently approved by the federal and provincial governments.

St. Clair and the University of Windsor were added to the updated list of Designated Learning Institutions on Tuesday.

In addition to protecting the safety of students, staff and the surrounding community, an institution must lay out its plan to manage an international student's mandatory 14-day quarantine period and details about how it will support a quarantined student's need for food or medication.

“Of all the Covid-related policies and procedures we've had to put in place, those associated with safely welcoming our international students to our community, and to Canada, have been the most complicated — and rightfully so, of course,” said St. Clair president Patti France.

“We are confident that the plan ensures the health and safety of both the students we're welcoming and the communities they will be entering.”

The college developed its plan with the assistance of Windsor Regional Hospital, Windsor Essex County Health Unit, the Ministry of Colleges and University and the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Ron Seguin, the college's vice-president of international relations and campus development, said 300 students who already have approved study visas are expected to arrive in early December.

“This is the beginning stages of rolling out our arrival protocol,” he said. “It's a very robust plan.”

Students will receive a detailed package outlining pandemic protocols before leaving for Canada. They will be picked up by college staff upon arrival at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

“They will be screened by border officials, they will be screened by St. Clair College staff and they will go directly by transportation to a destination where our quarantine will be centralized. We will supervise them with our own staff and medical staff at various hotels,” Seguin said.

He said the college has hired a team of nurses and doctors to oversee quarantining students and to test them for COVID-19.

“Our staff will have eyes and ears on them from the minute they arrive,” Seguin said.

The University of Windsor will require students to provide an address where they will be staying during quarantine along with details of how they will access food and other necessities.

Over the next six months, as more study visas are approved, Seguin said the college will bring over 3,500 international students.

“Large numbers are coming to Windsor,” he said. “But it will be spread out. It's staggered, it's planned and it's supervised. It's not a huge population showing up tomorrow.”

College staff will be in daily contact with quarantining students to ensure their overall health and well-being while being isolated so far from home.

“That can be hard on a young person,” Seguin said. “That's why we're going to wrap them in support.”