Great Plains, Cumberland, and Parkland Colleges have established an International Recruitment and Admissions partnership heading into the 2021-22 academic year.

Great Plains College president and CEO David Keast provides details on the partnership.

"What we are going to do in a nutshell, is pool our human resources and some of our other resources and services that we have in each of the colleges to form promotions, admissions, and recruitment consortium." 

Keast adds that they have been working on the partnership for a couple of months and one of the key managers who is an expert in international recruitment will be the one recruiting international students for all three colleges. 

The two-year pilot will enable the colleges to become more independent in terms of reliance on external agencies for student recruitment and efficiencies including cost savings. 

Keast details the cost-effectiveness of the partnership.

"Well certainly it is cost-effective in the sense that Parkland College just so happens at the moment is without some key personnel in this particular area of international education. So instead of going out and hiring a bunch of staff they're going to pay for part of the costs." 

The costs will be split three ways between the colleges involved and they will also cost-share on all other expenses including travel. 

In addition, Keast adds that for the Ministry of Advanced Education and the province of Saskatchewan the recruitment of international students has become a strategic item. Recruitment of international students into smaller communities and into the colleges in rural areas of the province is trickier and more challenging. 

What we are looking at is that this partnership may strengthen the visibility and the brand of the regional colleges in the smaller communities and attract international students according to Keast. 

Keast says that although this is happening now they would like to raise the bar on recruitment efforts in non-urban centers of the province.