INNISFAIL - The 10,400-student Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools (RDCRS) division has welcomed a record number of foreign students in the 2022-23 school year, says superintendent Kathleen Finnigan.
In her monthly report to trustees presented at last week’s board meeting, Finnigan said more than 120 international students from 16 countries are enrolled in division schools this school year.
The work of the Red Deer Catholic International (RDCI) initiative played a key role in bringing the students to the division. Formed in 2005, RDCI helps with the placement and accommodation of international students in the region.
“International students enrolled at RDCRS benefits from both our short-term and long-term programs and our online offering, today taken advantage by an additional 18 students,” she said.
“RDCI is grateful for the care and support our international student receive from staff members and their student colleagues. The post-COVID international students can often be a high energy, opportunity seeker, understandably after two plus years of restrictions.”
Most of the international students this year come from Japan, Mexico and Spain, she said.
“We have also enjoyed welcoming students from a variety of new countries and cultures (such as) Chile, Slovakia, Brazil and Korea,” she said. “In the coming year we expect to build on our enrolments of students from Germany, Italy, Vietnam and Turkey.”
This year the division expects to see 12 international students graduating from high school with an Alberta Education credential, she said.
“This is no small achievement given that many of these students joined us with basic and occasionally below-basic English proficiency levels,” she said. “At this time we already have students who have received conditional acceptance to Red Deer Polytechnic, University of Alberta, and University of Calgary.”
Headquartered in Red Deer, RDCRS includes schools in Olds and Innisfail.
