When it comes to arriving at Queen’s University for the 2016-17 academic year incoming international students are the early birds.

The majority of Queen’s students will arrive or return to the university over the next two weeks but many international students are already here settling into a new university and possibly a new culture.

Hard at work helping provide the needed support are the staff and volunteers of the Queen’s University International Centre (QUIC). With an increasing number of international students arriving each year QUIC has likewise expanded its programming and services to help with the transition period, creating a solid foundation for their Queen’s experience.

At the centre of all the efforts is welcoming the new arrivals into the community, explains QUIC Director Jyoti Kotecha.

“This is their home away from home. We want to make sure that they feel they have a safe place where they can go, relax and rest,” she says. “So a lot of the activities apart from the official orientation sessions that we give really focus around building a community for them.”

The effort to welcome the international students begins long before they arrive, with planning sessions starting early in the calendar year. Through the Acculturation and Transition to Life and Academic Success (ATLAS) program students take part in Orientation Week activities while a newly-designed series of webinars throughout the summer provides information and helps students make the connections they need.

“We presented webinars to answer questions such as how do they get here, things to be thinking about and to let them know the type of support not only that we give them as they try to settle in to campus at Queen’s and in Kingston but also what our partners around student affairs offer them,” Ms. Kotecha says. “This includes student wellness, student housing support, fitting in and finding your social network, and peer mentoring groups.”

Also new this year is the introduction of a self-serve online portal, created by IT Services, that allows students to complete their registration for the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP) without having to come into the QUIC offices, as was required previously. The development of the portal was led by Steacy Tibbutt, the UHIP administrator at QUIC.

“In the past every student had to come here to QUIC to physically talk to our UHIP administrator and get their proof of insurance,” Ms. Kotecha says, adding that in the first week alone more than 900 students registered before even arriving at Queen’s. “The students can log in at home. They are asked four very simple questions and they can print their UHIP coverage at home at whatever time that they want to do this.”

Looking forward to the academic year, QUIC has also partnered with the Student Experience Office and is offering academic peer mentoring through the Q Success program.

It’s a new world for many of the newly-arriving students and QUIC offers basic supports such as providing information on everything from transit to cultural adjustment, explains Hana Stanbury, QUIC Student Programs: Promotion and Volunteer Coordinator. Housing can also be an issue and to help fill in any gaps a partnership with Queen’s Residences provides students a temporary place to stay until more permanent accommodations are set up.

“That is very helpful,” Ms. Stanbury says. “So when the international students arrive they can  spend few nights there.”

QUIC is currently offering extended hours of operation until Sunday, Sept. 11: Weekdays 8:30 am-8 pm; Weekends and Labour Day (Monday, Sept 5) 1 -8 pm.

For more information about QUIC and the services it offers visit the website or visit the office in the John Deutsch University Centre (JDUC).