St. Clair College enters into MOU with Fairmount Properties to provide international student housing
St. Clair College has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Fairmount Properties.
The MOU would provide a secure welcome to international students, accommodating up to 400 students annually within 'Global Village Windsor', on the site of the former Salvation Army Grace Hospital in downtown Windsor.
Two years ago, Fairmount was chosen by the City of Windsor to develop the long-vacant Grace Hospital site, on University Ave. West at Crawford Ave.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Ron Seguin, Vice President, International Relations, Campus Development & Student Services, St. Clair College says the agreement will bundle the cost of housing with the tuition international students pay for programs offered at the downtown campus.
"So the site makes sense for that. It's about 10 minutes away from our campus downtown and it's a way that we can control and secure housing and up the ante in terms of the pressure that international students bring to communities in terms of housing."
He says it was designed with students in mind.
"It's part of the Global Village. It's obviously not the entire Global Village. It's going to be exciting when you see the conceptual's and the amount of services including grocery stores, medical services. There's been considerable collaboration with student groups in terms of the design of the building."
Seguin says half of the international students who arrive for schooling here, do so without having a place to live.
"For families whose children are travelling abroad, it's a great sense of relief. It's helps to serve, we're approximately at 2,000 students in our downtown campus that come from around the world. So it's an important piece for us moving forward."
Fairmount Properties expects to complete its due diligence research for the Global Village by the end of this year, after which more details about the project, including scheduling, are expected to be unveiled.