International Highlights

Durham College is really a global community. Each year, DC welcomes international students from 90 countries, and we also provide our students with opportunities to study abroad through global projects focused on skills development, training and opportunities for knowledge exchange with other institutions worldwide.

Recently, Janine Knight-Grofe, director of International Education, was recognized for her contributions to the field of international education at the Association of International Education Administrators' annual conference. She became only the second Canadian to be honoured with the Harold Josephson Student Professional Award, which recognizes a professional administrator in international education who is also doing graduate work.

We started collaborating with several Canadian colleges and universities on two separate projects, launched with the help of our International Global Partnerships and Projects team:

• With Sault College and Centennial College, we are leading an Empowerment through Skills Program, designed to strengthen alternative pathways to education, employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship for women and adolescent girls in Tanzania.
• With Vancouver Island University and Humber College, we are participating in the Skills to Access the Green Economy Program (SAGE) thematic partnership on educational technology to improve online teaching and learning instruction in Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica and St. Lucia.

In November, we hosted our first international delegation since 2019 with delegates from Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The visitors were here to continue their work on the Pacific Alliance Education for Employment program, which is primarily focused on reaching women and marginalized populations.

Our DC students enjoyed a number of opportunities to travel, learn and share their knowledge and experience with others:

• Event Planning students travelled to Ohio to support the Professional Convention Management Association’s Convening Leaders Convention.
• Two professors and 13 Faculty of Media, Art and Design students participated in a Faculty-Led Classroom Abroad program. Travelling to Guatemala, the students taught lessons on how to share stories in various forms, through the lens of equity, diversity and inclusion.
• Culinary students spent a week at a university in Peru, where they had the opportunity to learn more about Peruvian cuisine not only by eating it but by attending classes and learning how to create it themselves.