Four guidance counsellors from Jamaica and one each from Cayman and the Bahamas will tour eight universities and colleges in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick early next month.

The tour, which is sponsored by the Canadian government’s EduCanada programme, is intended to provide the counsellors with first-hand experience of various aspects of campus life so that they will be better able to guide their students in their Canadian university selection.

Among their areas of interest are student housing, international student services, scholarships/funding/financial support for international students, campus security and dietary offerings.

“The initiative seeks to widen the knowledge base of guidance counsellors…, further enhance the profile of studying in Canada by strengthening guidance counsellors’ capacity to inform students of the Study in Canada experience and create an interest in postgraduate studies for faculty and by extension increase the Canadian alumni representation in Jamaica, The Bahamas and the Cayman Islands,” the High Commission of Canada in Jamaica said.

The selected counsellors are Paula Gordon-Grant from St Hilda’s Diocesan High School, Andria Strong Moses from Munro College, Althea Francis from Glenmuir High, Claudia Willie from Montego Bay High; and Beth Schimidgall from Cayman International School, and Richine Bethell from Mt Carmel Academy in the Bahamas.

The tour will take them to the Univertiy of Ontario Institue of Technology, Durham College, Trent University, Ryerson University, University of New Brunswick Saint John, New Brunswick Community College, New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, and St Thomas University.