Written by Toey Saralamba
Rashmi is a Sri Lankan student studying at UTSC. For the past 2 years that Rashmi has been a UTSC student, she has had an extremely positive experience with UTSC’s various resources. Rashmi has used the International Student Centre (ISC)’s resources frequently and reports that it has fostered a “warm atmosphere” for her. An ISC event she remembers fondly is the mixer for the international students who had been studying online for the past 2 years due to the pandemic. She wishes that the university had organised more events like this mixer; she was especially hoping for an in-person frosh for the students who missed out on it during the pandemic. In addition to using the ISC, Rashmi has also utilised the My SSP app many times, including before travelling to Canada and when she was adjusting to living on her own. Rashmi asserts that the My SSP App was very beneficial to her mental health and “continues to advocate for [the use of mental health] resources amongst [her] classmates”.
Rashmi believes that there could be increased financial support in the form of academic/merit-based awards for international students who are currently enrolled at UTSC. Rashmi “strongly encourages UofT to provide equal academic recognition for international students, through tangible financial awards” as there are very few at present. Furthermore, Rashmi has found that “the awards are very specific in eligibility criteria” and believes that the university “should have more [awards] for international students with great academic
achievement and community involvement”.