Innovation Fund

Laurier’s Indigenous Initiatives office with support from Laurier International, set out to better understand Indigenous students’ learning needs and obstacles related to international education. By gathering knowledge about the student experience and needs and wants in a culturally appropriate way, the project generated evidence-based insights that will inform the design of learning abroad programs so they meet students’ ways of learning and requirements for a safe and healthy experience. The project has three stages: data collection; program design development; and communications and promotions planning.

York University launched the International Indigenous Student Exchange Program (virtual pilot) providing opportunities for cross-cultural dialogues and collaboration between Indigenous students at York and their peers in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and the Philippines. Through a series of facilitated workshops over eight weeks, students expanded their knowledge of Indigenous histories, languages and cultures, the land, and spirituality in a safe and inclusive virtual environment. A Knowledge Fair (public) was organized to showcase culminating projects of the students addressing knowledge gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.

Using a participatory action approach, this project aimed to identify and reduce barriers to exchange for students with disabilities. The project design promoted extremely high levels of student engagement. This enabled students to contribute to the development, and testing, of resources that aim to reduce barriers to exchange and enhance student support. This project engaged students with disabilities via a novel partnership between Waterloo’s Student Success Office and AccessAbility Services. Deliverables include an on-campus resource and referral map, a toolkit, and a survey to host partners that will enable us to promote their wellness and disability supports.

This project to seek to carryout research and capacity-building activities to better understand the barriers that faculties, students and staff face when offering or participating in short-term faculty-led mobility programs. The overall objective is to increase student participation in outbound mobility by providing more short-term study abroad opportunities.

To increase collaboration with Latin American universities, Vancouver Island University undertook a survey of students to understand, the main barriers to outbound mobility. The survey paid particular attention to perceptions of Latin America to better understand how to motivate students to participate in mobility opportunities in that region to identify barriers to participation in mobility opportunities with Latin America.

The 3D Printer project was implemented as an enrichment activity for students that also facilitated an exchange between Vanier College and Tianjin Vocational Institute with the help of MACC. It helped us to maintain our partnerships with international institutions as well as increase student engagement in an innovative way during the Covid-19. Students were grouped together to design and produce an item in a team-based setting without prior knowledge of 3D printing. The competencies gained from this project included creativity, adaptability, resourcefulness, leadership, and design skills. This project was accessible mainly because there were no costs involved for the students.