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WES’ new program, a solution for newcomers who don’t have access to documentation

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Many newcomers who move to Canada might be doing so as a result of being forcibly displaced from their countries of origin. In many cases, they do not have access to the credentials needed in order to pursue education and work in Canada.

World Education Services has recently launched the Gateway program for such individuals. By providing credential evaluations, even when authentication of official documents is not possible, the Gateway program aims to help individuals who want to get a Canadian education, attain professional licensure, or return to their professions. Beth Clarke of WES tells us more.

Video transcript:

Vasudha Sharma:
Welcome to New Canadians. I’m here with Beth Clarke, Director of Strategic Partnerships at World Education Services and she’s here to talk to us about the new offering the WES Gateway program. Beth, thank you for joining us. Why don’t you introduce us to the WES Gateway program?

Beth Clark:
Thank you. Well, the WES Gateway program is a program that WES is making available across the country. This is a program that is available to individuals who have been forcibly displaced from their home countries. For reasons such as conflict political unrest, natural disaster, often when individuals flee their country in a hurry, they don’t have the opportunity to take documentation with them. They often get to take very little with them when they leave. And this often poses a challenge when they come to Canada and try to resume their career or to resume their study just to reenter their profession. And so WES created the Gateway program to provide a solution for these individuals. Oftentimes when people are trying to access school, a regular regulated professions and employment, they are asked to provide some proof of their educational qualifications. And when individuals are not able to get access to the documents because the school is no longer functioning properly or perhaps is destroyed, it creates a very real challenge and a real barrier and so WES wanted to do something to address this challenge.

Vasudha Sharma:
How’s the WES Gateway program different from your standard evaluation service?

Beth Clarke:
Our standard evaluation service provides an authentication of the documents that have been sent to us directly from the institution where the individual studied in the WES Gateway program, that’s not possible. In the WES Gateway program we prepare our evaluation based on the documents that the individual has with them, and so with those documents that can be a mix of academic and non-academic documents that they may have in hand and with our years of expertise, and the vast database that we have at WES, we’re able to then look at their educational history and in some cases, even reconstruct based on our experience and our expertise that we have at WES.

Vasudha Sharma:
Just for the interest of our viewers, why is credential evaluation so important when you move to a new country to Canada what should, how does this piece of paper empower newcomers to Canada?

Beth Clarke:
Yeah, well, it’s a very powerful tool for individual that’s trying to regain their career at credential evaluation report is able to explain the educational background of an individual in terms that somebody who receives that report can understand. So for example, when an individual is trying to gain entry into a college or a university, it presents the education that they’ve already had in a way that it’s understandable in Canadian terms or to a regulatory body. The individual who’s receiving it and looking over the documentation, they’re able to understand what that means. And likewise, for an employer, it gives a sense of comfort in that they understand what that person brings with them when they enter the new place of work. So it’s a very powerful tool to help them regain, and to be able to speak to and help the individual reading, understand what they’ve done.

Vasudha Sharma:
Right. It sounds like a very impactful in a thoughtful initiative. Have you come across any success stories from the WES Gateway program?

Beth Clarke:
Well, we decided to roll out the WES Gateway program, we started with an 18-month pilot project to see if we could do this and what value it would have for individuals and the results that we received through that pilot and through the evaluation of that pilot were very encouraging. We saw a lot of individuals who were able to regain their professions, but go back to school and regain their studies and to access the not only regulated professions, but also employment. And so, we were very encouraged with what we saw in the first round and that is what ultimately led us to take the step forward, to make this available to more people across the country. In fact, just this morning, I heard from my team that an individual had been able to access a regulated occupation in Saskatchewan using the report. But oftentimes it’s also when they do go back to school, getting credit for the courses that they may have already taken so that they don’t have to start at the beginning, they can start a little bit forward in their education as well, so we’ve been very encouraged by the success that we’re seeing,

Vasudha Sharma:
Beth, who’s eligible for the WES Gateway program?

Beth Clarke:
The WES Gateway program is really a program that’s about access to documentation of educational qualifications. So right now, this program is available to individuals who’ve been educated in seven countries. Those countries are Ukraine, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, and so when an individual has been educated in one of those countries and is struggling to get access to official records into their documentation, then we look at their ability to come into the program and they need to have at least one piece of evidence in their possession of official evidence that would give us a sense of what they’ve done in their field of study. They need to obviously come and be educated in one of those countries, and also they need to be referred through one of our partner agencies and one of the, the agencies that are working with individuals to help support their applications into the program and we have a full list of these partners and the requirements on our website.

Vasudha Sharma:
So how can these potentially eligible individuals access the program? Where can they learn more about WES Gateway?

Beth Clarke:
Oh, well, good question. So one of the easiest ways that an individual can find out about this program is to go to our website. So we have the information there about our partners and how to gain entry into the program if they go to wes.org. So wes.org/gateway.

Vasudha Sharma:
Wonderful. Beth, thank you so much for your time, and we wish you success with WES Gateway.

Beth Clarke:
Thank you.

 

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