Seeking Suggestions for Education Pathway for Canada's Permanent Residence

[OtterDen]

I hope this post finds you all in good health and high spirits. I am reaching out to this esteemed community today to seek your valuable suggestions and insights regarding the education requirements for Canada's Permanent Residence (PR) pathway for Hong Kong residents.

I am currently planning to apply for Canada's PR pathway, and one of the key requirements is to have graduated from a designated learning institution in Canada within the past three years. The specific educational qualifications that fulfill this requirement include:

1. A diploma (not graduate or post-graduate) for a program of at least 2 years.
2. A degree (associate, bachelor's, master's, or doctoral).
3. A graduate or post-graduate diploma or certificate for a program of at least 1 year.

Furthermore, it is essential that at least 50% of the program is completed in Canada, whether in person or online. Considering my personal preferences and my financial status, I am looking for an educational pathway that is as short as possible, while still meeting the aforementioned requirements set by Canada. I would also highly appreciate suggestions for online study options and competency-based programs, if available.

To provide you with some background information, I hold a Bachelor of Science (honours) degree in Computing and Information Technologies from the University of Derby, where I graduated with Second Division (1st class) honors.

I firmly believe that this community is a treasure trove of knowledge and experience, and I would greatly appreciate any suggestions, recommendations, or personal experiences you can share regarding suitable educational programs that fulfill Canada's PR pathway. Your insights will undoubtedly help me make an informed decision about my educational pursuits.

Thank you in advance for your time, support, and guidance.

---

I am excited to share an update on my findings.

After conducting thorough research and exploring the forum threads, one institution that caught my attention is Athabasca University (AU). This institution has been discussed extensively on DegreeForum.

AU offers a range of graduate programs in an online distance learning format, which aligns perfectly with my preference for online study. By visiting the AU website, I discovered a diverse array of graduate certificates, graduate diplomas, and master's degree programs available.

Athabasca University site:degreeforum.net:This link will provide you with a wealth of information shared by members who have engaged with AU.

To access the list of available graduate programs at Athabasca University, I recommend visiting their official graduate program website. This comprehensive list will provide detailed insights into the programs that AU offers, enabling you to make an informed decision based on your academic aspirations and Canada's PR pathway requirements.

Furthermore, Athabasca University's status is in the list of Design Learning Institution (DLI), the DLI ID for Athabasca University is #O19092373272. This information is crucial for ensuring that the educational institution meets the designated learning institution requirement set by Canada.

[cnrqqqqca]

Welcome to Canada.

You are looking for offline education anyways: Considering you got enough education the next degree you are pursuing can be a check-the-box one. Note that Canada DOES NOT require you to work in the same field for PR - this means that you can study for whatever you want.

What you want to consider is the length of degree and respected cost implication: You will need a minimum 3-yr degree for 3-yr PGWP which means a bachelor or some college degree. You can attempt to apply for Masters in Canada - Your GPA should be good enough even for some competitive programs (like Waterloo or UofT).

Also you want to consider which province you want to land in. Quebec has French requirements which most applicants hate; AB, MB, SK has lower cost of living but limited work opportunities, with provincial nominee program giving strong preference on local graduate; BC has special path for SDEs but comes with sky-high cost of living, and there is no guarantee that such program shall persist by the time you graduate; ON is not cheap - especially Toronto, has good education and most job opportunities but is the most competitive(reads: hardest) area in Canada in terms of immigration, especially Toronto.

I say:

- get yourself very familiar with immigration policies, which includes federal - Express Entry and FSW and provincial nominee programs. Make sure that you are reading material no later than mid 2022 - policies are moving fast.
- Find the budget first - do not expect that working part-time(even full-time) in Canada can cover your tuition: best case scenario is you may get your living cost covered with strict budgeting.
- Be very flexible, especially in QC and ON: be prepared to change your plan midway should immigration policy changes so you do not lose time for a degree you can't use.

Good luck with your journey.

[OtterDen]

You are looking for offline education anyways.

The following is the requirement of the PR pathway for HK residents https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-ref...ility.html :

have graduated from a post-secondary designated learning institution in Canada in the 3 years before you apply
with one of the following:

• a diploma (not graduate or post-graduate) for a program of at least 2 years
  
• a degree (associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral)
  
• a graduate or post-graduate diploma or certificate for a program of at least 1 year and
  

with at least 50% of your program completed in Canada (either in person or online)

Considering the requirement allows for online learning, I have the flexibility to study in Canada while physically being present for at least 50% of the program. This means I can study remotely while physically staying in Canada for at least 50% of the program duration.

Currently, my preference is to pursue a graduate certificate, as it usually requires a shorter time commitment compared to other programs. I have found Athabasca University (AU) as an option, but I would appreciate more recommendations to make a better-informed decision.

Also you want to consider which province you want to land in. Quebec has French requirements which most applicants hate; AB, MB, SK has lower cost of living but limited work opportunities, with provincial nominee program giving strong preference on local graduate; BC has special path for SDEs but comes with sky-high cost of living, and there is no guarantee that such program shall persist by the time you graduate; ON is not cheap - especially Toronto, has good education and most job opportunities but is the most competitive(reads: hardest) area in Canada in terms of immigration, especially Toronto.

- Find the budget first - do not expect that working part-time(even full-time) in Canada can cover your tuition: best case scenario is you may get your living cost covered with strict budgeting.

As for my financial situation, I have enough savings to solely focus on studying without the need for employment. Therefore, job opportunities are not a significant factor for me at the moment. Instead, I intend to minimize my living expenses and save as much as possible during this period.

Considering the provinces with a low cost of living that you previously mentioned, such as Alberta (AB), Manitoba (MB), and Saskatchewan (SK), I am inclined to choose one of them. However, I must note that Quebec is not on my list due to my lack of proficiency in the French language.

I am immensely grateful for your invaluable advice.

[RoboPanda]

If you are looking for shortest programs to meet your PR requirement, graduate certificates is the way to go as they are only 1 year in length. Majority of the Canadian colleges offer some sort of graduate certificates with some programs having the online courses component. The reason I mentioned colleges is that they are cheaper then universities.

Full list of online programs: https://www.centennialcollege.ca/program...ilter=1016
Human Resources management (online): https://www.centennialcollege.ca/program...ent-online
Marketing Management (online): https://www.centennialcollege.ca/program...ent-online

You can also look at other big colleges like Seneca, Humber, George Brown.

I am based in Toronto so my listings reflect that but I am sure you can find colleges in AB, SK,MB offering similar online graduate certificate programs that will fulfill your requirements for cost, length and most importantly, PR purposes.

[StudiousTraveller]

Another online university here is Thompson Rivers (TRU) I've done one course at Athabasca (AU,) and doing my first course TRU now and they are formatted similarly.

Pros with TRU:
- they have cheaper courses than AU
- you can start anytime at TRU whereas at AU you can only start on 1st of a month provided you have registered by 10th of previous month
- they transferred 90 credits from my prior degree towards the new degree I'm working on (may not be helpful to you to have that many transfer if you need 50% in Canada but possibly you could cover some credits with prior education to save costs)
- they have a high international student population so they may have resources to help with immigration questions


Pros of AU
- many more courses to choose from
...however you can take AU courses with permission from TRU towards a TRU degree as long as you meet TRU residency requirement (which for my program is 15 credits). I am planning to take 3-4 courses with AU as part of my TRU degree because the AU courses are a prerequisite to an AU Grad certificate I want to do and they will also fulfill upper level requirements for TRU program.

All the best with your studies and hope your move to Canada is successful. We can't wait to welcome you! ??

[bjcheung77]

AU, TRU are good options, they're both Regionally Accredited as well. The other two that make up the total of 4 RA institutions (I don't recall anything more than 4 getting RA for the last little while), are Capilano University and SFU. 3 of the 4 are in BC and AU is in Alberta... You really need to 'find' your mix/match of tuition and cost of living... it's expensive for AU. Capilano is primarily undergrad, so that won't do... SFU is all butt-in-seat... You might want to consider other provinces other than the four mentioned, skip Quebec, I would focus on the Atlantic Provinces instead, way east of Ontario/Quebec.

Edit to Add: BTW, I always thought you were trying to enter the UK with the posts you've created. Basically... You need an action plan. From reading what you're looking at, it seems you're wanting to do a quick credential, and then take 2 extra years of studies in Canada. Is that your plan? Most people start from an 'easier' province to get their foot in the door, then move to their desired province to reside in. Do you already have family or friends, or a resource in Canada to assist you or provide support?

[HVzR5]

Like people mentioned it really depends on which province you wanna land in. I probably gonna say(as an alumni) that Atabasca's not that idea if you're seeking opportunities outside AB and a bit risky as it's a well-known online uni. TRU or the Royal road uni may be a better choice. If fully online's an option for you, may be worth taking a look at Queen's online's program like BA History (But BA's quite mickey mouse degree in Canada).

Do you have any career plan or certain area you'd like to work at? Some colleges, in some cases, may fit your needs more. What I heard is that BCIT got programs in 18 months with 2 years workloads that meet Canadian Immigration rules for 2 years of studies. And their graduates are quite popular in the job market. Some unis also have such kinds of programs like Mcgill's MMA.

Talking about the East, if you do speak some French, NB is another province you'd probably get some advantage at, as it's the only real bilingual province (And you only need to pay the local rate if you do your program in French in most of ON QC and NB unis). I also heard some rumors that MUN uni in NL gives very nice bursaries to reduce tuition so worth to check (good luck with the weather tho). --- besides tuition, living cost in those provinces are always way lower than places like GTA, GVA or Montreal island.

[OtterDen]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to drop by and give you all an update on my recent inquiry to Northern College. First of all, thank you so much for all the help and support you provided in response to my previous post. I genuinely appreciate the time and effort you all put into assisting me.

Yesterday, I received a response from Northern College regarding my query about their program offerings. Unfortunately, it wasn't the news I was hoping for. According to their email, programs for international applicants are only available through in-person on-campus learning. They explicitly stated that online delivery is not an option due to the regulations set by the IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada).

It seems that the Canadian government has imposed specific regulations that prohibit online delivery for international students. While this news is disappointing, it's crucial for me to understand and respect the guidelines set forth by the IRCC.

Given this information, I'm now in the process of reaching out to other colleges and universities to explore alternative options. However, considering that this regulation stems from the IRCC, I suspect that other institutions may have similar restrictions in place.

Nonetheless, I remain optimistic and determined to find a suitable educational opportunity. If anyone has any suggestions or experiences related to this matter, please feel free to share them. Your insights and advice have proven invaluable so far, and I'm grateful for this community's support.

Once again, thank you all for your support.

[smartdegree]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to drop by and give you all an update on my recent inquiry to Northern College. First of all, thank you so much for all the help and support you provided in response to my previous post. I genuinely appreciate the time and effort you all put into assisting me.

Yesterday, I received a response from Northern College regarding my query about their program offerings. Unfortunately, it wasn't the news I was hoping for. According to their email, programs for international applicants are only available through in-person on-campus learning. They explicitly stated that online delivery is not an option due to the regulations set by the IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada).

It seems that the Canadian government has imposed specific regulations that prohibit online delivery for international students. While this news is disappointing, it's crucial for me to understand and respect the guidelines set forth by the IRCC.

Given this information, I'm now in the process of reaching out to other colleges and universities to explore alternative options. However, considering that this regulation stems from the IRCC, I suspect that other institutions may have similar restrictions in place.

Nonetheless, I remain optimistic and determined to find a suitable educational opportunity. If anyone has any suggestions or experiences related to this matter, please feel free to share them. Your insights and advice have proven invaluable so far, and I'm grateful for this community's support.

Once again, thank you all for your support.

There is a reason why on-campus studies in Canada is given priority for immigration.  It has nothing to do with the quality of education - you will get the same thing whether it is online or on-campus.  The on-campus requirement is to make sure you are adapted to living in Canada.  Stuff like knowing how to communicate and interact with Canadians on a daily basis - whether you are in a grocery store, eating at a restaurant, taking public transpo - these go a long way to proving you are "one of us".  I say this as a Canadian citizen who is an immigrant myself.  Not only does it help prove how you will adapt to Canadian society, it's also a great way to test the waters on whether you would enjoy living here permanently.   I empathize with you but I think you should seriously consider studying on-campus in Canada.   Best of luck on your journey!