Making the switch to university life can be difficult and is only compounded when you are also trying to find your way in a new community and culture.

These are the challenges for many international students. However, with the support of a number of programs offered by Queen’s University and the Queen’s School of English (QSoE), that transition is being made easier.

One such program is QBridge, which acts as a pathway or a bridge to undergraduate studies and delivers academic English language training to international students before they begin their studies at Queen’s.

The QBridge Pathway initially began in 2010 as an intensive eight-week English language summer program for conditionally accepted international students. This year, the QBridge Pathway was expanded to include the English for Academic Purposes Program, which allows students with conditional acceptance to spend the Fall and Winter terms preparing for undergraduate studies. The first group of QBridge students joined the English for Academic Purposes Program in September 2015 and are currently preparing for their 2016 Queen’s undergraduate studies.

In the QBridge Accelerated, the students, who have already been accepted to an undergraduate program at Queen’s, listen to lectures, write essays, make presentations and take part in debates. By the program’s end, students are meant to be proficient enough in their academic and language skills to be able to succeed in their first year of university.

This is not an introductory course.

“It’s very intense but to get into the QBridge Accelerated program these students have a certain English-language proficiency that’s higher than in other programs,” says Rasha Fahim, an ESL instructor at QSoE who is also pursuing her Masters of Education. “So you’re dealing with more proficient students and they do have the acceptance into their undergraduate programs so they have that motivation, they want those skills.”

Another aspect of the QBridge Pathway is that it helps the students settle into their new life, not only in the classrooms and lecture halls of Queen’s but in Kingston and Canada as well. While we may think of the community as being a friendly, convenient place, for many new arrivals they are being introduced to a very different way of life, from cultural norms to simply getting around the city.

“I think it eases the students into their university life because it takes them a while to get adjusted to Canada, to Kingston, just being able to take the bus, moving back and forth, getting used to the culture here a little bit,” says Ms. Fahim. “That’s important because that is part of their well-being too.”

From a student perspective, Severus (Chongxi) Gao, now in his first-year of studies at the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, says the program was valuable in preparing him for the next stage.

Initially, he wasn’t all that interested in leaving his home in Shandong, China, early to attend QBridge, he says. However, his father pointed out that it was about more than making the transition to post-secondary education.

“So I went,” Mr. Gao says. “That was probably the wisest decision I ever made. It helped me a lot.”

He says that a key to the QBridge Pathway is that it’s not about polishing his English skills, but about raising these to an academic level while also learning about the expectations of a Canadian university. Halfway through his first semester at Queen’s he is already putting much of what he learned to work.

“For the QBridge students we have the ability to write a proper lab report to get a good mark. We know what to say in reports, we know what to say in emails, we know how to use English properly in different situations,” he says.  “It’s also about accepting another culture, making yourself more comfortable in it and trying to gain something from it. That’s what QBridge helps us to do.”

This year’s QBridge Accelerated program attracted 49 students, tripling the number from the year before. To learn more about the QBridge Pathway visit the Queen’s School of English website.

Beginning on Monday, Nov. 16,  AECOM Canada Ltd. and Vickery Electric will be performing an audit of communications and electrical manholes on main and west campuses for their condition and the condition of electrical cabling, etc. The audit will also include accessing the main electrical rooms of most buildings on both campuses to visually assess main electrical equipment and room condition. 

The audit will begin with communications manholes and once those are complete, the electrical manhole audits will be performed. It is hoped that these audits will be completed before winter weather begins. The electrical room audits will likely take place sometime in December/January.

Any questions regarding these audits should be directed to Fixit by phone at extension 77301 or by e-mail.

The Queen’s community turned out in the hundreds to mark Remembrance Day at Grant Hall on Wednesday.

Led by Chaplain Kate Johnson, staff, faculty, students and community members filled the hall to listen to reflections by Alice Aiken (School of Rehabilitation Therapy), Director, Canadian Institute for Military & Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR) and Rector Mike Young, as well as a performance by the Queen's Choral Ensemble.

Mapping out a prosperous future path for Kingston and Queen’s was the focus of the Principal’s Community Breakfast held Tuesday, Nov. 10 at the Delta Kingston Waterfront Hotel.

With a focus on entrepreneurship and innovation for the event, Principal Daniel Woolf brought together members of the Kingston and Queen’s communities as well as a panel of special guests, each with their own connection to the university: Shai Dubey, Director, Queen’s full-time MBA and Distinguished Faculty Fellow, Smith School of Business; Natasha Baziuk, co-founder of Gryllies, the winning company from this year’s Queen’s Innovation Connector Summer Initiative (QICSI); and Venicio Rebelo, former owner of two of Kingston’s largest hotels and conference centres.

Innovation initiatives at Queen’s take a number of forms, ranging from organized initiatives between faculties such as the Queen’s Innovation Connector (QIC), through to courses or components of courses as well as weekend workshops and competitions (e.g., Queen’s Startup Summit, Queen’s Entrepreneurship Competition, Enactus). At the same time, Queen’s Innovation Connector Summer Initiative provides an important opportunity for students to develop a foundation for entrepreneurship and innovation, and an opportunity to put these concepts into practice, while PARTEQ supports innovation through supporting commercialization and transfer of Intellectual Property at Queen’s.

Each speaker offered a different perspective regarding business and the Kingston economy that drew the attention of the more than 100 people attending the event.

Ms. Baziuk (Sc’15) spoke about the challenges faced by Gryllies and the support it has received.

While the start-up was created in a low-risk environment, receiving support from Queen’s, Innovation Park and the City of Kingston through KEDCO, she says there remains room for growth. She pointed to a number of business incubators and accelerators that are based in major centres that draw young entrepreneurs away from smaller communities like Kingston.

But she also saw an opportunity for Kingston due to its location and the resources available.

“What I think Kingston could potentially do is, we’re in such a strategic location in terms of being close to Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, that Kingston itself would be a great location to start the next incubator-accelerator program with the university connection as well as an already-established innovation sector,” she says. “I think it will not only keep talent in the Kingston area but also attract talent elsewhere into our community.”

Mr. Dubey, as the founder of Quicklaw, a leading provider of legal online database services to the legal profession, also spoke about the entrepreneurial experience. Through his work at the Smith School of Business he also sees the strength of the Queen’s learning experience, using Ms. Baziuk as an example.

“Why are we different? Because we are teaching our people like Natasha to think, to be critical thinkers, to be able to take ideas and then put them into practice,” he says.

He also sees much potential for the Kingston economy.

“The opportunity is here, we just need to plug into that opportunity as we go. And we do,” he says. “We have world-class institutions, we have great assets here but how do we take advantage of them?”

 Infrastructure is a key in attracting and keeping people in Kingston says Mr. Rebelo, a Queen’s graduate as well. He says he has seen the community grow in a number of ways and pointed to recent improvements that have provided a boost to the city and Queen’s.

“What has been really beneficial for the city is the development of the infrastructure of the city itself – the reconstruction of Princess Street, the development of the downtown, the rebuilding of Market Square, putting a skating rink there, the development of the Rogers K-Rock Centre, the Invista Centre, the K&P Trail – all those things are so critical to bring visitors to our town,” he says.

The positive impressions of the community will remain with the visitors, who will then help spread the word about Kingston and Queen’s and bring them back as well, he adds.

In kicking off the breakfast, Principal Daniel Woolf provided an update on Queen’s to the many community leaders in attendance.

Principal Woolf highlighted recent accomplishments such as the $50-million donation to the university from Stephen J.R. Smith and the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics to Professor Emeritus Arthur McDonald (Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy).

He also highlighted that the key areas of the Strategic Framework, including internationalization, continue to guide the university forward and help bring the Kington and Queen’s communities together.

“I and other members of the administration regularly travel abroad to raise Queen’s and Kingston’s profile internationally, to recruit students and faculty members and to sign partnerships that will allow student exchanges and research partnerships,” Principal Woolf says. “And from Queen’s perspective one major area of interest is providing a welcoming environment and community for international faculty and students. We are eager to work with the city and community partners to strengthen our capacity to welcome newcomers and help them integrate fully into the community.”