how does the University of Montreal recruit its foreign students?

With their baccalaureate in hand, many of them, each year, set their sights on a new life on the other side of the Atlantic. In the fall of 2024, more than 500 French students returned to the University of Montreal (UdeM), in Quebec (Canada), with hundreds of other students from all over the world.

A attractiveness that does not weaken and that the French-speaking establishment cultivates with care, considering diversity and multiculturalism on its campus as one of the essential factors for its influence. To achieve this, UdeM is working hard to convince future recruits to come and study in one of its 13 faculties or its 2 affiliated schools (HEC Montréal and Polytechnique Montréal).

During a press conference in Paris on Tuesday January 14, the institution presented its admission and integration procedures for foreign students. These are intended to be faithful to the pedagogy that UdeM defends, namely a vision “flexible, accessible and oriented towards the development of students”explains Michèle Glémeau, general director of admission and recruitment at UdeM. We take stock.

A simplified and transparent admission process

In recent years, the University of Montreal has evolved its selection and admission process. The establishment quickly understood the importance of “adapt to the reality of students”, retraces Michèle Glémeau. With this in mind, UdeM has surrounded itself with the people best able to understand the candidates: its own students, by recruiting and training student ambassadors.

It is on the basis of the latter’s experience that UdeM has designed its admission process for user point of view. This follows three main axes:

• Simplified process : submit an application in 3 steps, 30 minutes. “We redesigned our candidate site and increased our communication channels, led by our student ambassadors”lists the director of admissions.
• Focus on orientation : up to 10 program choices, with no prioritization required. To help candidates choose the right program, UdeM has developed several tools. French high school students can, for example, use the “Bac-a-Bac”to understand the equivalences between the French baccalaureate and Quebec undergraduate programs. “The end goal is to have the right candidate in the right program,” slips the manager.
• Transparency : the admission criteria are clearly defined on each of the program sheets. In the event of rejection of a file, UdeM attaches particular importance to explaining the reasons. “The students made us understand that we had their life project in our hands,” underlines Michèle Glémeau, adding that response times have been shortened to 2 days, compared to 3 to 5 days previously.

“When a candidate enters an admissions service for the first time, the first people met are the student ambassadors”, Michèle Glémeau still insists. A red thread for candidates, particularly foreigners, whom they do not leave at the time of their integration and throughout their course.

From admission to integration: reinforced support

Because once admitted, foreign students are not at the end of their troubles. “We know that the immigration process is extremely complex”recognizes Michèle Glémeau. From March, she returns to France with his team and student ambassadors for meet those admitted,answer their questions and those of their families.

Then, initiatives are deployed from summer to support new students: mentoring, twinning, integration week, etc. “An entire system is put in place to support them, from the moment they begin to take an interest in UdeM until the end of their first year”she assures.

Strengthened support, which allows the University of Montreal not to worry about the visa restriction policy of foreign students decided by the Trudeau government last year. “The government is tightening the selection process for candidates from our universities”analysis Michèle Glémeau. “He does not want universities to find themselves with international students without housing solutions or support in their integration,” she adds.

The only impact that this reform could have on UdeM, according to her, would be the imposition of a quota, but one which would respect the current volume of integration of foreign students.

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