Student Partnership Program (SPP) In Canada: A World of Opportunities For Students

In last few years there had been a massive surge in a number of international students heading to Canada for higher education at one of Canada’s 98+ universities. Canadian universities and schools have always attracted international students (especially from China and India) because of their affordable tuition fee and high-quality education. To increase the number of students coming to Canada, in 2009 they started the Student Partners Program (SPP).

SPP colleges are a group of colleges and universities that have come into the partnership to help encourage and simultaneously increase the flow of international students looking for studying abroad. In fact, more than 300,000 students across the globe make Canada their temporary home while they continue with their Bachelors and Masters degrees, where Indian students account for almost 12% of them. As a positive response to this increased interest in international students looking to study in Canada, they have set up a program called the “Student Partners Program” or the “SPP”. This is a partnership between the Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s visa office and Association of Canadian Community Colleges (the ACCC) with the purpose of increasing the number of study permits being approved for international students and to make the student visa application process a lot easier and a lot quicker.

The SPP is an amazing and a very useful program for students in India, and the benefits don’t just include a faster visa process. Once students get approval for this program, they may get away with providing documents for visa process as they’d need otherwise (such as proof of acceptance to the school, Identity proof, proofs for financial support and a letter of explanation, detailing why you’re applying for a student visa). It also makes it much easier for students to apply for a work permit once they’ve graduated from a partner SPP school with a recognized program.

Eligibility Criteria for SPP Colleges in Canada

There’s no specific application process to follow for the SPP; In fact, students may directly apply to one of these colleges and are considered for the program if they meet basic requirements like:

IELTS score of minimum 6 bands.

Gap years are not considered to be very positive on the profile, but in case a student had to take that gap, in case of any specific reasons, they must not be longer than 5 years. Proof of ability to pay a tuition fee for either one semester or one year through an approved Indian bank or financial institution.

At least a 50% score on any recently completed degree or diploma (this may vary from school to school).

How to Find SPP Colleges in Canada

This is a very simple process reason being, there are at present only 39 colleges/universities that are partner schools. The schools are situated all across Canada, from Vancouver on west coast to Toronto, near the eastern shore. It is important to keep checking Canada’s Immigration and Citizenship process and guidance for new schools that have joined up with the SPP for the coming sessions.

Here’s the list of SPP colleges:

• Algonquin College
• Bow Valley College
• Cambrian College of Applied Arts and Technology
• Camosun College
• Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology
• College of New Caledonia
• Columbia College
• Conestoga College
• Confederation College of Applied Arts and Technology
• Douglas College
• Durham College
• Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology
• George Brown College
• Georgian College of Arts and Technology
• Grant MacEwan University
• Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
• Kwantlen Polytechnic University
• Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology
• Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology
• Marine Institute of Memorial University
• Medicine Hat College
• Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology
• Niagara College
• North Island College
• Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
• Northern College
• Northern Lights
• Okanagan College
• Red River College of Applied Arts, Science and Technology
• Selkirk College
• Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology
• Sheridan College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning
• St-Clair College of Applied Arts & Technology
• St. Lawrence College
• University of the Fraser Valley
• Vancouver Island University
• Vancouver Community College

Studying in Canada can provide a number of benefits for international students as I have discussed in my earlier blog on MBA in Canada which goes from providing a unique multicultural experience to offering amazing university programs in nearly every discipline of higher studies.

– Team Leverage