University of Windsor Allocates $700,000 to Support International Students Affected by COVID-19

Canada’s University of Windsor has decided to invest an additional amount of $700,000 for three scholarships and learning programs in order to provide financial support to international students who have been affected by COVID-19 pandemic, according to an announcement of the university.

The Associate Vice President, Enrolment Management at the University of Windsor, Chris Busch, said the university has taken into consideration that international students have been facing many challenges since COVID-19 spread across the world, including losing their part-time jobs as well as other financial problems along the way.

“Fortunately, our domestic students have been able to access specialized government funding to help at this difficult time, but international students do not have access to similar supports and continue to face disproportionate challenges to their financial security,” he added.

Meanwhile, the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Windsor, Rob Gordon stressed that international students are an essential part of the Windsor-Essex community, bringing a great deal with their knowledge, expertise and creativity.

“This investment will go a long way to ensuring that our students will continue to do their best work in our labs and classrooms without some of the financial worries they have been experiencing over the past six months,” Gordon said.

Moreover, he added that financial support would be mostly focused on work-study programs and is considered an ideal solution to overcome the challenges that international students have been going through.

The financial support includes the following:

1. A scholarship of up to $2,500 to all returning international students who prove financial needs, which scholarship is part of the new International Student Bursary.
2. Co-op placements for almost 80 international students involved in master programs.
3. Financial support on 50 additional positions for international students at the university’s Ignite Program, including a paid part-time experiential learning program.

This year, the total amount of additional support for international students reaches more than $1.2 million.

A total of 16,231 international students from 100 countries pursue their studies at the University of Windsor during one academic year. More than 12,356 are part-time and full-time undergraduate students, 4,135 are graduate students, while 23 per cent are international students.