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Universities reach out to grads 

Recruitment fair provides options for study

By Karen Herland

In an unprecedented move, 10 Quebec universities are collaborating on a province-wide campaign to recruit graduate students to their programs.

Representatives of the different institutions held targeted information and recruitment fairs in Sherbrooke, Trois Rivières and Quebec City over the last week.

“We are competing for students but we are all working together,” said Acting Coordinator of Graduate Student Recruitment Bernard Pomerleau. “We have done this at the undergraduate level for a number of years, so we decided to introduce the concept at the graduate level.”

Pomerleau, who started in his position seven months ago, developed the idea with Marie-Claude Lyster, Associate Director of Recruitment at the JMSB. Both of them saw a need to focus recruitment efforts for students completing undergraduate degrees who might want to further their academic careers.

They contacted colleagues at other universities and convinced them to coordinate schedules and share advertising expenses in order to reach the widest possible number of potential students.

This first three-stop tour could expand in the future. Pomerleau would like to see more regions in Quebec covered, along with other parts of Canada.

Pomerleau said most potential students arrive at recruitment events with an idea of the schools and programs they are interested in. “They’ve already done their research and been to the website. They mostly want to verify certain information.”

Overall, he said all the participating universities were pleased with the event, and the turnout of this inaugural tour.

Pomerleau said this collaboration is part of a broader recruitment strategy currently taking shape at Concordia as part of the strategic framework.

Trevor Cuddy assumed the position of Director of Student Recruitment on March 1 and will be bringing his experience from Queen’s University and the University of Toronto.

Meanwhile, Pomerleau said that his office will be seeking better coordination in recruitment efforts between departments, especially in terms of sharing practices and strategies.