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Professional Programs for Canadian Students
Please note: This article was written in May of 2004 and some program-specific details may no longer be accurate. Please refer to the Admissions web pages for current information.
In 1994, the United States, Canada and Mexico launched the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which created the world’s largest free trading area. Coincidentally, at about the same time, D’Youville College began exploring the possibility of creating agreements with Canadian colleges to enable Canadian transfer students to pursue advanced studies and graduate degrees at D’Youville. A decade later, NAFTA has gotten mixed reviews at best while D’Youville’s Canadian agreements have been an unqualified success. According to a recent Canadian publication, D’Youville College has more Canadian students by far than any other U.S. college or university. That number is currently over 900 students (roughly 30% of total enrollment). Although the vast majority of those students are graduate students in education—not undergraduate transfer students—the total number of Canadian students continues to increase each semester.
For all Canadian students, D’Youville offers some distinct advantages in addition to its location just a few blocks from the Peace Bridge and the Canadian border. D’Youville’s dual degree programs, tuition discounts, special Canadian scholarships and academic programs enable Canadian students to achieve advanced degrees and professional certification in a relatively short time period and to realize financial savings in the process.
“Right now it’s cheaper for Canadian students to go to Seneca College or Niagara College [in Ontario] and then come to D’Youville than it is for them to go through their university system and get a bachelor’s and master’s,” says Ron Dannecker, Director of Admissions. “There are two big advantages for a Canadian student to come to D’Youville: less time and less cost.”
Although these are compelling reasons to cross the Peace Bridge for degrees at D’Youville, they are by no means the only reasons. Canadian students come to D’Youville for degrees in education, physical therapy, occupational therapy, international business, nursing and other programs because many Canadian colleges and universities have a limited number of openings in those programs, especially in Ontario. One dramatic example of the shortage of Canadian openings in its chiropractic studies programs. Beginning in Fall 2004, D’Youville’s new Doctor of Chiropractic program will give many more Canadian students an opportunity to study here.
“Even students with great academic averages have difficulty getting into the Canadian universities because they have many more students applying for professional and licensing programs than they can accept,” says Linda Fisher, Director of Graduate Admissions at D’Youville College. “Thousands of students will apply for hundreds of openings.”
With offerings such as D’Youville’s Canadian Teacher Certification program and graduate programs including a Master's in Physical Therapy and a Master of Occupational Therapy, students in southern Ontario can get the education and credentials they need without going that far away from home. Many of the programs, however, do have a rigorous curricula requiring fulltime study including summers.
Another important reason Canadian students come to D’Youville is its reputation for high quality education. “We started out very strong through word of mouth in Canada and we’re very highly regarded across the border,” says Ms. Fisher. “We’ve placed a lot of teachers in the Canadian system so now we’re known not just for our programs but for our graduates’ performance as teachers. They’re well prepared and well respected, so our reputation is one of the best.”
According to Dr. Robert Gamble, Chair of the Department of Education, D’Youville’s Canadian Teacher Certification Program got underway in the late 1980s with around 15 students. “Today, nearly 85% of our education students are Canadian,” says Dr. Gamble, “and the overwhelming majority of them are graduate students. We have about 250 students coming in each semester and another 150 during the summer term. They’re here for a year or a year and a half and then they go back and teach in Ontario. Our undergraduate education students mostly come in as transfer students either from Seneca College or Niagara College in the IDS (interdisciplinary studies) program, a five-year bachelor’s/master’s/certification program. ”
D’Youville currently has joint agreements with three Canadian colleges—Seneca, Niagara and Humber —as well as Niagara County Community College in New York. These articulation agreements feature joint programs and dual admissions that enable students to submit a single application for both schools and guarantee acceptance at D’Youville after earning a diploma in a two- or three-year program. The first joint agreement combined a two-year General Arts and Science diploma program at Seneca College in Toronto with a three-year Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in International Business at D’Youville.
For students interested in a career in physical therapy, D’Youville offers a 6-year program with a B.S. in Health Services and a Master’s in Physical Therapy (MPT); or a 2-year graduate program for students already holding bachelor's degrees. Alumni who already have an MPT degree can earn a Doctor of Physical Therapry (DPT) degree in a one-year transitional program. According to Lynn Rivers, chair of the Department of Physical Therapy, there has been a great increase of Canadian students in the PT program in the last couple of years.
“The demand for physical therapists is enormous in Ontario since the number of their PT programs is very small compared to the U.S.,” says Dr. Rivers. “Out of 100 applications to our graduate program in the last cycle, I would estimate that 70 of the students were Canadian. Many of our Canadian students are coming to us with undergraduate degrees in kinesiology and health science.”
Beginning this fall, Canadian students will have another program offering at D’Youville: the Doctor of Chiropractic (DC), a seven-year dual degree program or a four-year program for students already holding bachelor’s degrees. According to Dr. Paul Hageman, Chair of the Department of Integrative Holistic Health Studies, Canadian students will sit for the same licensing exam as U.S. students. There is currently only one chiropractic college in Ontario and only two in all of Canada.
All Canadian students receive a 20% tuition discount at D’Youville College. They are also eligible for a special Canadian academic scholarship based on previous academic achievement. “If you’re a Canadian transfer student with a 3.5 GPA, we take $4,000 off your tuition,” says Mr. Dannecker. “Plus 20% off that. And once you’re in the 5-year program, you’re automatically accepted. You don’t have to put in another application for the master’s level.”
This is very helpful for Canadian students in education because oftentimes it’s difficult to get into the master’s program at a Canadian teacher’s college. Some students have to wait one or two years or not get in at all because with so many applicants, there simply aren’t enough spots. D’Youville guarantees these qualified transfer students a teacher’s college and a master’s degree while paying undergrad tuition the entire time. In addition, they’ll have their certification and master’s degree in three years instead of four.
Nurses are also attracted to D’Youville since they receive a 50% tuition discount when coming back for their bachelor’s degree. There are also agreements with Canadian colleges for bachelor’s degree programs in psychology and counseling, and dual degree programs offering a Bachelor of Science/Master of Science Education and a Bachelor of Arts Interdisciplinary Studies/Master of Science Education. (For more information, see Undergraduate Admissions.)
Many of the master’s level programs have coursework prerequisites that are required for study in the main curriculum. However, students lacking some of these prerequisites are not barred from entering the program at D’Youville. Rather, they enter a modified curriculum where they can first complete the prerequisites. In some cases, the prerequisites are even integrated right into the program.
“From the Canadian students’ standpoint, they may be used to a system that has them barred from entering until they meet prerequisites and in meeting those prerequisites they have no assurance that they will be able to continue into the next stage,” says Ms. Fisher. “I think it’s important that in our program students only need one entry process for the two phases. Their academic success gives us an indication of their probable success at the professional level. The fact that they’re missing some coursework is merely a process that they must complete first.”
Another important point for Canadian students is the flexibility of class scheduling. For example, the Canadian Teachers Certification program requires students to be here only two days a week during the regular year or four days a week in the summer session. The nursing program requires students to be here one day a week. This is designed for the convenience of students who have to drive a couple of hours from their home in Ontario.
“Our undergrad articulation agreements with other colleges is not all that common across international borders,” says Ms. Fisher. “But what’s important to us is that their courses satisfy our requirements so that students can come in as juniors. Both the undergrad agreements and the diversity of our graduate programs have gone a long way to develop good relationships with Canadian students and their families. Our proximity, curricula, and quality of education makes our programs work to meet the needs of our Canadian students.”