Blog 11: Concordia University students want probe of foreign-student recruiters

         This article tells about how students from Concordia University have begun to ask Canada’s international education industry to stop using recruitment agents because foreign students there have been complaining about poor conditions in their home-stay arrangements. Some students from China said they planned their accommodations in Canada through a man named Peter Low, who is supposed to be a director of the Concordia China Student Recruitment Partner program, and said they were promised furnished rooms and meals but this is not what they received.  This week at a protest Nadine Atallah the vice-president of Concordia’s Undergraduate Students’ Association, said “Some of them don’t get enough food. Their access to hot water and use of kitchen are restricted, and they can’t have visitors.” “In one incident, a student was accused of stealing forks, knives and cups, and had to pay the landlord $150.  After she paid, the landlord said more went missing and asked her for $1,240 or to get out.”  It is said that these issues came to light after three Chinese students went the university’s housing and job bank for help. An article was then released in the school paper telling how the Chinese students were being taken advantage of. The Chinese student  told the school paper how he paid $900 a month to share a crowded house with 12 other people and for breakfast, lunch, and dinner they only received two pieces of bread with margarine or a hot dog. Another student named Lydia Li from Shanghai told the Star she paid $900 a month to stay in a house with a family of three and two other students. Li said “There’s only a bed in the room, no chair or desk. We didn't even have a lock on our doors. All we had were sandwiches with jam. We don’t know where to complain. No one is taking responsibility and we feel betrayed by Concordia.” A member of the university’s Graduate Students’ Association thinks that these problems are growing as Canadian universities began to use more recruitment agencies to help them compete in the international education market. However Christine Mota a spokeswoman for Concordia said no international students had complained to the administration about these issues. Mota said the administration plans to create virtual and on-site orientation sessions, in Mandarin, Arabic, Farsi and other languages, that will include information on housing and their rights as tenants. It will also make available a Mandarin version of the pre-departure guide for foreign students. Christine Mota also emphasized that Low was not a Concordia employee; he is a contractor who represents the school at international education fairs and marketing seminars but Li and other Chinese foreign students believe that Low is a Concordia employee because of his Concordia email address and they did not have to pay him an administrative fee for arranging the home-stay.

          I have noticed it is becoming a more common problem for international students to be mistreated and taken advantage of when they go to another country to study. More and more students are beginning to come out talk about the terrible living conditions and being starved. There should be some type of laws put in place to prevent this from happening or they should have random check-ups where someone randomly stops by the place the international students are living to see how the living arrangements are.  Peter Low also needs to be investigated and possibly removed from his job if he is actually an employee or Concordia instead of just a recruitment person for them.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1284993--concordia-university-students-want-probe-of-foreign-student-recruiters