Providing students with the opportunity to strive in their career choices - Interview with Ms. Isha Sehgal

My past experiences, during my graduation, made me opt to make a shift in my career towards the education sector.

Based in New Delhi, I am the Admissions Advisor for Bow Valley College in South Asia Region; recruiting students through educational fairs and events, organized by various agencies/consultancies. With a Bachelor of Science from Delhi University, PGD in Marketing Management from NMIMS, I believe to have a diverse academical background.

College plays a crucial role in the development of the students and I wanted to be their helping hand in opting for the right choice.My journey in this industry has been progressing for over 4 years, starting with as an Admissions Officer at Fanshawe College; I started my role with Bow Valley College.

Diversity helps to understand each other well and gain new perspectives and experiences

Bow Valley College is the only Comprehensive Community College, located in Calgary, Alberta. Here, we have students from 148 countries. The diversification makes us complete. We learn from each other and get to know each other well. It's always good that you study your higher education with different cultures and religions so that you gain new experience.Our greatest strength lies in the academics as well as the partnerships with 23 countries.

The 2-year diploma program, Health programs and Cyber-Security programs are in high demand among the students

At Bow Valley College, we have a 2-year business diploma which offers majors in various disciplines(Accounting, Financial Services, Marketing, Supply Chain Management, and Digital Marketing). In the Health segment, we have 3 programs, and all of them are in demand such as Health and Human Services Management, Pharmacy Technical Diploma, and also Health Care Aid Certificate. Our Cyber-Security program and Data Management and Analytics Certificate are quite popular among students with a technical background. With 88% of Employment Rate, within the six months of graduating, the maximum number of our students gets placed with our top employers.

Business program being the Co-op plays a pivotal role. The IT and health programs are Work-Integrated Learning programs, where students get to learn by visiting industry and learn with the experts by performing duties with them.

We have diversified our areas of recruitment in the west and south, other than north in the past 2 years

With the purpose of diversification, along with the North region, we are also expanding our reach in West and South regions as well. India is a culturally rich country. The tier-2 and tier-3 cities hold enormous potential in terms of dedication to a career path and building skills.

My role revolves around counseling students, building and maintaining relationships and organizing seminars

I manage agency relationships for South Asia, which includes India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka and Nepal. My role revolved around counseling students, building and maintaining agency relationships, and conducting seminars. Students look for a program that interests them and accordingly approach the agents. The agents help students in applying to BVC.

We promote students both academically and via extracurricular activities as well

The international department is comprised of 12 divisions, with top 3 being Academic Advising Team, Learner Success Services, and Student Association. Learner success services at BVC promote extra activities with studies and also help in doing certifications, and foremost we don’t have any restriction on academic gap nor any restriction on the backlog. Student's Association at BVC takes care of the needs of students by helping them peer tutoring on the day of orientation. Also, BVC has a buddy program wherein a senior student is assigned to the group of students to help them in each and every way possible to sail them during their early days.

We are trying our best to take classes via digital medium to help the students

We have started digital classes to help propel the course during the present COVID-19 pandemic. May 20 intake has been completely moved to online. Our program intake date has been shifted from 3rd May to 15th May at present. As per IRCC norms, we are assisting students to be able to complete 50% of their course online from their home country.