HOW WELL IS TRU MEETING THE NEEDS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AS
COMPARED TO OTHER
CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
A RECOMMENDATION REPORT
SUBMITTED TO:
THE TRU BOARD OF GOVERNORS
THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY
SUBMITTED BY:
ESTHER ANWULIKA AJUFO
T00691121
ajufoesther@gmail.com
14th APRIL 2022
Running Head: HOW WELL IS TRU MEETING THE NEEDS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AS COMPARED TO
OTHER CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
HOW WELL IS TRU MEETING THE NEEDS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AS
COMPARED TO OTHER
CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
A RECOMMENDATION REPORT
INTRODUCTION
The shelter they say is a basic human need. One can even imply that adequate housing provides
people with dignity and a sense of belonging in any society.
In the quest for human capital development embarked by international students. One of the
biggest worries is how and where to settle down. This is the most important issue faced by every
immigrant as it can contribute a great deal to how they are able to adapt to their new environs.
Thompson rivers university being a great place of learning that accommodates diversity and
multi-ethnic groups is rather not fully inclusive in international students settlement as compared
to some other institutions in Canada.
Background
According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE there’re about 650,000
international students in spread across Canada. This number rose rapidly, up 119% between 2010
and 2017, according to data from the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE),
Running Head: HOW WELL IS TRU MEETING THE NEEDS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AS COMPARED TO
OTHER CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
which estimates there were 435, 415 international students in Canada at the end of 2018. This
number is certain to continue rising as studying abroad benefits international students in search
of human capital development and also the Canadian economy with an influx of cash and also
helps in sustaining jobs.
TRU welcomes about 3500 of these international students each semester from more than 100
different countries and provides on and off-campus housing packages in their bid to aid them in
settling into their environment.
Statement of problem
Although housing is broadly recognized as a challenge facing many Canadians (Chisholm &
Hulchanski, 2019; Tsenkova, 2019; Worth, 2019), Canadian governments and universities
overall have not sufficiently focussed on how issues related to housing accessibility. especially
concerning availability and affordability are impacting students, TRU is not exempt. First-hand
studies of Canadian
public universities’ strategic and campus plans have shown that few discuss in detail housing
accessibility challenges for students, and those that do tend to lack concrete plans to improve
students’ housing situations (Galt, 2018).
The Housing and accommodations section on the TRU website does not have enough
information and offers little or no help in aiding international students in settling in as students
will have to book with full payments on the school website with no guarantee of getting a space.
This compounds the issue around housing accessibility and affordability. My easy moves to
highlight and compare TRU with Canada university west.
Running Head: HOW WELL IS TRU MEETING THE NEEDS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AS COMPARED TO
OTHER CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
FINDINGS
Housing issues affected all international students and related to affordability, adequacy, and
suitability. Students also discussed the personal impacts of inadequate housing and
homelessness. Housing represents a large percentage of a student’s living expenses, so
affordability touches on the cost of living generally and the balance between income and
expenditures.
As shown in figure one, the number of
international students at Thompson Rivers
University as of 2020-2021, was 4,165 and 85%
of this number of students are stranded when
they come to Kamloops because of lack of
accommodation. The question here is, does it
meet the needs of international students as
compared to other Canadian universities.
It wasn’t a great experience looking for
accommodation when I got here as I deemed that
the university didn’t have enough housing for
international students. This, in turn, led to cost
FIGURE 1
Data retrieved from Thompson Rivers University. (n.d.). Factbooks. Retrieved April 6, 2020, from https://www.tru.ca/ipe/factbooks.html
implications that weren’t budgeted for as I had to spend nights in hotels. It created a picture that
the school wasn’t interested in how we settled into our new environment.
This isn’t entirely the same with some other Canadian universities. University of Canada west
created a space on their school website which helps students book available housing in the city.
Running Head: HOW WELL IS TRU MEETING THE NEEDS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AS COMPARED TO
OTHER CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
I see this as very effective, so students won’t have to deal with fraudsters in their desperate
search to settle.
Coming from home, we as international students don’t know the city very well and that being so,
you find students getting houses far away from school and that can be very stressful for settling
down. The University of Canada West made that part of transitioning easier for students. The
apartments that are on the page they created are all close to school and very affordable.
Although Thompson rivers are already providing hostels and makeshift accommodations there is
room for improvement. The university should provide makeshift accommodation for at least
85% of the incoming international student to enable seamless transitioning into the new
environment.
CONCLUSION
Housing is very important, and it can affect a student academically, and socially because they
don’t have a sense of belonging. International student enrolment in Thompson Rivers is expected
to increase over the next decade, and international education will be an economic driver in both
the near and the long-term future.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations emerged from the problems faced by TRU

Thompson Rivers should provide a housing page on their website where landlords that
are reliable and near the school list their houses.

TRU should be able to provide more accommodations for their international students

TRU should have a special office on campus that helps international students with
housing and settling in specifically.

TRU should make staying in the school’s residence compulsory for first-year students
Running Head: HOW WELL IS TRU MEETING THE NEEDS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AS COMPARED TO
OTHER CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
REFERENCES
Thompson Rivers University. (n.d.). Factbooks. Retrieved April 6, 2020, from
https://www.tru.ca/ipe/factbooks.html
https://www.terrace.ca/sites/default/files/docs/business-development/planningdocument/greater_terrace_housing_needs_report_2020.pdf
https://housing.ucanwest.ca/
https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/student-housing-shortagecanada_ca_5d98fe89e4b03b475f9a3431