Partnerships & Global Engagement

New MOUs expand Mohawk College’s Global Reach

Over the past six months, Mohawk College has signed Memorandums of Understanding with the following partner institutions:

• West Visayas State University (WVSU), Philippines
• Anahuac University, Mexico
• Colegio de Bachilleres del Estado de Campeche (COBACAM), Campeche, Mexico
• Fundacion Pablo Garcia, Campeche, Mexico
• Secretaria de Educacion Campeche (SEDUC), Campeche, Mexico

Meanwhile, we continue to work with our partner Amity University, one of the largest universities in India, on curriculum mapping for a proposed pathway from their Business Degree to Mohawk Programs.

Global Skills Opportunity Trip to Italy, a Transformative Experience for Students and Faculty

In September of 2021, Mohawk College was awarded a Global Skills Opportunity grant from the Government of Canada to enable student trips abroad in support of global learning and intercultural competency development. Global Skills Opportunity is a national outbound student mobility program that enables more than 16,000 Canadian college and undergraduate-level university students from across the country to acquire the global skills employers want and the Canadian economy needs.  

One of Mohawk College’s Global Skills Opportunity projects supports students in the McKeil School of Business to study at the CUOA Business School in Vicenza, Italy for two weeks. Once there, they learn about the influence of culture and innovation on business model performance within an intercultural setting. In April 2022, the first cohort of 15 students and 2 faculty departed for the trip of a lifetime. While there, they visited local industries such as Lego, Benetton, and Ducati and participated in tours of cultural hubs such as Rome, Venice, and Florence. During the day, they studied design thinking and intercultural management at the business school, all while practicing their Italian and networking skills. The students commented that the trip was transformational, "life-changing", and greatly influenced their development as global citizens.  

Another of Mohawk College’s Global Skills Opportunity projects will see 16 Indigenous students, accompanied by staff, faculty, and mentors spend three weeks in New Zealand in May 2024, to experience traditions, thought, and practices of Māori culture.

A key component of the Government of Canada’s International Education Strategy, Global Skills Opportunity is funded by Employment and Social Development Canada and is administered jointly by Colleges and Institutes Canada and Universities Canada. Over four years, Mohawk College will be one of 54 colleges and institutes and 56 universities that will be implementing a total of 124 Global Skills Opportunity-funded projects in collaboration with international partners in more than 100 countries, to the benefit of tens of thousands of students. Pictured at right is the Italy team in front of the Colosseum in Rome. View a video featuring trip participants below.

Mohawk College Welcomes Exchange Students from our Partner Institutions

Mohawk College will welcome Carlos Palomec Poot in Fall 2022, an exchange student from UMAD, our partner university in Mexico. Carlos will be studying in the International Business Management program under the Emerging Leaders in the Americas (ELAP) scholarship program. Meanwhile, Hugo Zarate Aguilar and Jose Manuel Veana Naredo, also from UMAD, will be continuing their studies in Global Business Management for the last semesters of their exchange with us. Mohawk College continues to seek ways we can support our partners and grow our relationships to expand the reach of a Mohawk education around the world!

Pictured at left are the winter 2022 exchange students with staff from the International & Partnerships department.

First Ever "Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building" Grant at Mohawk will Expand our Partnerships in Trinidad & Tobago

In spring of 2022, Mohawk College learned we will be the recipient of the "Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building" grant from the government of Canada. For the first time, Mohawk College will be participating in this Global Affairs Canada-funded program that allows us to send a professor to a Latin American country to solidify and enhance our relationship with partners. Professor Dr. Majlinda Qarri, from the School of Engineering Technology, will be visiting the University of Trinidad & Tobago (UTT) for 3 weeks in January 2023, meeting with professors and industry leaders, and teaching in the renewable energy program. Mohawk College and University of Trinidad & Tobago (UTT) signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding in March 2021, and are keen to explore potential future projects together. Professor Qarri has extensive experience teaching at Mohawk College, McMaster University, Humber College, George Brown College, and Sheridan College, as well as at a university in Albania in the field of engineering technology. Her experience as Program Coordinator for the Energy Systems course will allow her to contribute positively to the Utilities Engineering program at UTT and build potential partnerships for future research and mobility opportunities for both faculty and students. Pictured at left is Dr. Majlinda Qarri.

Several Global Mobility Opportunities for Students, Staff and Faculty Re-Launched

A strategic priority of the College is to build our internationalization capacity through projects that enhance intercultural understanding, embed global learning outcomes, and support the development of welcoming and inclusive culturally diverse learning environments. The College is pleased to launch and re-launch several global engagement initiatives to enhance the intercultural competencies and enrich global understanding of students, staff, and faculty.

Global Experience – Ecuador 2023

In October 2022, a small group of Mohawk College staff will begin a training program for organizing and facilitating global experiences with students. The group will have the opportunity to travel to Ecuador during Winter Break 2023 for the experience of a lifetime! The Centre for Teaching & Learning (CTL) is thrilled to re-establish this program that was first launched in winter of 2020 with ten faculty and staff immersing themselves in the culture and traditions of Ecuador over nine days.

Photo above: A team of Mohawk faculty, staff, and administrators visited Ecuador in 2020 for global experience leadership training. Photo credit: Patrick Cross

Get Ready to GLO!

In the winter of 2020 the Global Learning Opportunities (GLO) initiative was launched and received 14 excellent applications from faculty. Unfortunately, the program was halted due to COVID. This year, International & Partnerships is excited to re-launch GLO with a call for applications closing mid-August. Full-time faculty and staff were invited to submit an application for funding to take students abroad in winter 2023. The program will fund up to 2 employees and 20 students to travel during winter break week 2023 for an intercultural learning opportunity.
New this year is a call for proposals for a Virtual GLO – also called COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) program. Proposals were invited for projects that embed a global learning opportunity into a course by partnering with an institution abroad and offering virtual experiential learning for students. Projects are to begin in winter 2023.
More information about GLO and Virtual GLO can be found on the GLO website!

GLO will fund faculty/staff-led student trips like the one pictured to Bowden Hill Primary School in Jamaica in 2019.

International Faculty Leads Bolster College’s Internationalization Efforts

Since 2017, International Faculty Leads team has supported academic internationalization efforts at the College. During winter of 2022, the team delivered workshops to faculty and staff on how to support international students with topics ranging from academic integrity through a cultural lens, to how to understand diverse accents, intercultural communication, and inclusive pedagogy, while partnering with colleagues across the College. They look forward to offering more workshops in fall 2022 and winter 2023, and to hearing from their fellow faculty about their preferences for continuing professional development resources relating to internationalization. There are currently 10 Leads, representing all the schools at the College - see the  International website for details. Photo at left: International Faculty Lead Carol Fleck speaks with students. (Photo taken pre-pandemic).

Mohawk College Continues its Presence at Major International Education Conferences

The annual Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) Conference will be held in Toronto this year in November. As we have for the past several years, Mohawk College faculty, staff, and administrators will both attend and present at this year’s conference. Kelley Hoyt, International Education Consultant in the Centre for Teaching & Learning and Brian MacDowall, Academic Integrity Facilitator, will be presenting this year on “EDI-informed Academic Integrity” while members of the International Faculty Leads team will present on “Engaging Faculty in Internationalization”. Meanwhile, Director of Recruitment and Business Development, Thea Laidman and Operations Manager, Registrars Office, Allison Stewart will present with industry partners on the evolution of student support in the new reality of higher education. Thea recently presented at the Colleges & Institutes Canada (CICAN) national conference in Halifax on collaborations between government, private and public sector organizations enabled by digital transformation.
See more about the upcoming CBIE Conference.