Additional Initiatives

BEST Conference

After the 2020 in-person version of the event was cancelled due to COVID-19, the BEST (Building Employment Skills for Successful Transitions) Conference came back with a bang as a virtual event in 2021. Working together with our members and other partners across Nova Scotia, this year’s BEST Conference set a record with 556 registrations, with 333 live attendees recorded at the conference. The conference included 12 workshops, as well as a virtual services expo, which allowed students to connect with services and supports available to them across the province.

Webinar Series

EduNova has been expanding retention initiatives since early 2020, where we found a gap of pre-employment supports available for international students in Nova Scotia. Over the past year, EduNova hosted two webinars, with an overall registration of more than 450:

1. Tax return information session (in collaboration with Canada Revenue Agency); and 2. Immigration session about permanent residency (in collaboration with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Canada and Nova Scotia Immigration and Population Growth).

Students Helping Students – Celebrating Students Who Care

The Nova Scotia International Student Program (NSISP) has annually trained more than 120 Nova Scotia students in grades 10, 11 and 12 to assist their international student colleagues in adjusting to life in Nova Scotia, becoming involved in campus and community activities and creating the friendships and connections that will allow them to be successful in their high school careers. The EduNova Ambassador Awards are designed to recognize the great work that these domestic Nova Scotia students have completed during their high school studies. It also encourages them to continue this work at a Nova Scotia university or NSCC to help international students ease their transition into communities across Nova Scotia. In 2021, EduNova awarded these $2000 tuition awards, generously funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education, to 28 students from high schools across Nova Scotia. The awards were distributed during an online graduation ceremony featuring commencement speakers the Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, Nova Scotia Minister of Labour and Advanced Education, and Senator Stan Kutcher on June 11.

Global Recognition

Corporate Vision is a monthly digital publication with a worldwide circulation of over 155,000 business leaders and experts. Since 2016, Corporate Vision has recognized high-performing organizations around the world. In December 2020, Corporate Vision announced two awards for EduNova in the small business category:

1. Best International Education Community – Canada 2. Innovation Award for Educational Initiatives – Atlantic Canada

Export Internship Program

In the fall of 2020 and winter of 2021, EduNova hosted a five-part virtual session that tackled the online business challenges and opportunities of undertaking e-commerce for two cohorts of 35 Nova Scotian companies. The program also connected recent graduates to those Nova Scotian businesses looking to hire and implement the learnings from the program.

In partnership with Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Nova Scotia Business Inc., EduNova delivered to these local companies this advanced digital series which introduced five key components: fundamentals of digital marketing, construction of your virtual storefront, targeting your messages to the right audience, measurement of your digital marketing performance, and the possibility of working with digital agencies. The participating companies also had the one-on-one coaching opportunities tailored to their needs after the workshops, as well as access to all associated resource materials.

Leveraging the advantage of technology, the virtual trainings successfully brought the participating companies a full range of digital skills enhancement, which showed EduNova’s strong support for local business to be digitally “up to speed.”

Getting the Word Out – Welcoming Newcomers

As COVID-19 raised domestic concerns around safely welcoming students and others from around the world, EduNova was invited to promote the ongoing importance of international education after the pandemic when it became safe to travel again. EduNova designed and deployed several executions across social media platforms for a four-week period. The campaign highlighted the importance of international students to Nova Scotian communities and the economic health of the province.

Immigration Committee Report

As the pandemic unfolded around the world last year, immigration and border policies in Canada became fluid in response. International Offices in learning institutions were left scrambling to understand what changes were happening and what the impact would be for international students coming to Canada, and Nova Scotia specifically.

The immigration committee of EduNova already had a strong membership and collaborative spirit, and with updates happening at a brisk pace, the committee agreed to move the meetings to a weekly basis. Information on updates would be discussed, understanding of the implications interrogated, and good practices shared. A tangible outcome of this was EduNova’s support to the institutions in fulfilling a requirement of the International Student Institutional Readiness Plan, being that messaging supporting anti-racism related to COVID-19 be communicated. EduNova had content developed that each educational institution could use on its social media channels.

Representatives from Labour and Advanced Education and the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration have been invited to participate in the weekly meetings and provide updates. As EduNova sits at a national table, information gathered there has been shared with the committee. As a member of the Immigration Advisory Committee for the Canadian Bureau of International Education, Larissa Strong from StFX was able to share further information from that group. Over the course of the past year, the committee has averaged 15-20 members participating in the weekly meeting; a testament to the value members find in the meetings.

Besides the regular updates on the pandemic, this group also worked collaboratively on specific issues related to immigration and international education, including study permit processing times in and outside of Canada, authorized leave policies, co-op work permits, post-graduation work permits, and health insurance. Given the strength and trust this committee has developed over the past year, there is interest in utilizing these weekly meetings as an opportunity to continue sharing information and good practices beyond just the pandemic and its impacts, but with other areas of practice for international offices and those who have immigration as part of their portfolio.

Getting the Word Out – Promoting What We Do

Whether it’s letting Nova Scotians know through an article from EduNova’s CEO on how international students can safely come to Nova Scotia or preparing a wide range of promotional materials to drive awareness around EduNova’s initiatives, EduNova is always working hard to get the message out about international education. This year, we prepared a wide range of promotional materials in support of a project, event or call to action. These materials were used across a variety of social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Instagram. They were often emailed to individual EduNova members for sharing among students. Some of the materials were targeted to students, while others were geared toward agents and counsellors.

Getting the Word Out – Standing Against Racism

EduNova was asked by members to spearhead a campaign focused on broad messages around anti-racism with a unified voice in promoting the inclusion of international students and minorities across the province. Social media was the primary channel, and a campaign tool kit was also distributed to EduNova members to allow them to tailor the materials for their own use on their respective platforms.