College students heading to Toronto to become effective global citizens

In May, a group of students from Borders College will be jetting off to Toronto as part of the College International Programme which supports students to become effective global citizens.

The students applied in December to take part in the trip and were selected following interviews in January. Since then, it has been all systems go to book flights, arrange passports and accommodation, plan transport and excursions and arrange the courses the students will undertake while they are there.

Carly Forrest one of the students selected for the trip said:

“Toronto is widely known for its culture and diversity and I would love to immerse myself fully into this. Learning about new cuisines opens up a new world of ingredients and culinary adventures that I would be so excited to delve in to. From the famous Poutine, Saskatoon Berry Pie, to Nanaimo Bars and even Taffy-On-The Snow. It would be a wonderful experience to help enhance my network and build invaluable relationships with people from all over the world. Reflecting on my own self-development, this once in a lifetime chance would expand my confidence immensely.”

The group will visit Centennial College, a community college in Toronto offering a wide variety of courses across a range of subjects including business, communications, health, science, engineering, arts, hospitality and transportation. The college has a large number of international students and began working with Borders College in April last year to develop a short programme for our students.

The group will attend college classes for 2 weeks during the visit with each student taking part in a course focussing on their area of interest – culinary skills, patisserie and front of house. There will be plenty of time for sightseeing though and the group have planned trips to Niagara Falls, Cirque du Soleil and to see the Toronto Blue Jays so far. Student Steven Birney described the trip, saying

“This is a great opportunity for me to be pushed out of my comfort zone by going to a different country and doing work over there.”

The trip is funded through the Turing Scheme which replaced Erasmus this year for international programmes. The college hopes to extend this for 2022/23 and apply for further funding to expand the international offer.