Feature

SAY HELLO TO CANADA'S WEST COAST:
University of Victoria shows off its strengths shining in both education & location

When you ask the average Canadian, “Where is the warmest place year-round to live in Canada?” the answer coming from anyone who knows what they're talking about is bound to be Vancouver Island.

Now, that doesn't mean there aren't “hotter” places to be found in the summer months of June, July, or August… But it does mean that no matter what time of year that you visit the island, the weather is bound to be moderate not too hot, nor too cold.

Filled with lush forests, beautiful waterfronts, and stunning mountain views, Vancouver Island is truly a land of spectacular sights. Its main city of Victoria, home to about 335,000 people, is also the capital of the province - British Columbia.

Victoria is one of the Canada's most popular tourist destinations. Well-known for its great beauty, cultural activities, and brilliant fresh food, the city attracts over three and a half million overnight visitors each year. Theatres, live music, art galleries, museums, outdoor festivals, impressive parks and gardens the city has much to offer, for people of all ages and interests. It's also the home for one of Canada's great public institutions the University of Victoria (UVic).

Nestled in a green, gently sloping area on the outskirts of the city, UVic is one of the nation's leading comprehensive universities. With more than a thousand world-class professors and a reputation for paving the way in innovative and interdisciplinary research, international students coming to the university are ensured a top-quality education.

Research areas the university is particularly recognized internationally for include global change and sustainability, oceans and climate studies, society and health, genomics and proteomics, as well as computational modeling and information processing all areas in which interested students, regardless of what level of study they're in, have a chance to take part in cutting-edge research and learning opportunities.

For those students interested in more directly career-related experiences as well, the university is home to the nation's third largest co-operative education (or “Co-op”) program. Running since the 1970's, this program offers students the opportunity to learn and earn. Students receive academic credits for taking part in paid work semesters. Available to students in over 40 of UVic's different academic programs, Co-op is a great way to gain valuable job experience, to build up references for the future, and, in many cases, to kick start exciting careers!

Take German-born mechanical engineering student Georg Tuchlinski for example. During a recent UVic Co-op semester, he worked for prestigious automotive company BMW, back in Munich. Assisting with vibration tests on inline 6 Otto-cycle engines, Tuchlinski helped to ensure that they would provide the quietest rides possible.

“It was awesome,” Tuchlinski says of the experience, “because other people aren't going to see these designs for years.”

Whether you're interested in gaining work experience in Canada or abroad, Co-op is a way to do so. And, according to the university, many students are offered full-time employment after graduation with the companies they did Co-op with making it a great experience for future employment and career choices, as well as an opportunity for students to show potential employers what they're worth. In fact, Co-op is such a popular option, that one in four UVic students choose to take part in the program each year.

For the new international student arriving at UVic for the first time, however, the big decisions are more involved with the type of courses they want to take, and the type of accommodation they would like to obtain, rather than getting too wrapped up in what the future holds. Luckily for many, at least one of those decisions is made easier to ponder with residence accommodation being 100% guaranteed for all first-year students coming directly from high school. The university also provides the option of family housing, for those students interested in bringing along spouses and/or children, and for any students not wanting to cook for themselves, comprehensive dining options offer students a wide variety of choice including vegetarian restaurants, bistros, and a grocery store for those interested in self-catering. Particularly for students living on campus, keeping healthy and energized for classes has never been easier.

The most popular areas of program interest for international students applying to UVic include its Bachelor of Commerce and Engineering programs, while other majors in the areas of the humanities, medical sciences, and education continue to draw students into new directions. From studies in political science, to environmental issues, creative writing to nursing the university's ten separate faculties offer a wide range of choice for students looking to obtain a top-quality education.

Have more questions?
To learn more about the University of Victoria and its academic options, be sure to visit it's website at http://www.uvic.ca. Or, to take the first step towards applying to one of the school's comprehensive programs, visit www.canada123.org and follow the easy application instructions, located at the top right-hand corner of the home page or alternatively, get personal counselling by dropping by the Dhaka-based Canadian University Application Centre (or 'CUAC') office located on Gulshan Road.

Additionally, UVic staff travels from Canada to Dhaka and will be present on Friday, November 5th, along with other university representatives from across Canada, at The Westin Dhaka from 12 noon to 8pm, ready to answer all your questions with typical Canadian helpfulness.

WHEN: Friday, 5th November - 12 noon to 8 pm
WHERE: The Westin Dhaka, Ballroom 3 , Gulshan 2 , Dhaka
We look forward to meeting you soon!
Photo Captions [for 2 of the 4 photos]:

Field Hockey: At University of Victoria, countless sporting opportunities and outdoor activities await interested students, both on-campus and off. From joining one of the school teams in such sports as field hockey, football (called “soccer” in Canada), or golf, to spending some free time playing squash or swimming at the campus facilities, to cycling the city streets or trying your hand at ocean kayaking out on the deep blue sea Victoria is full of exciting activities to keep students active!

Telescope: UVic is home to some of the most advanced educational and research facilities in Canada. Take this new telescope, for example a $700,000 instrument that is being used to help teach undergraduate science students in the areas of Physics and Astronomy. It is by far the largest on-campus telescope in the country, and the fifth largest telescope overall in Canada befitting for a university renowned for its research involving the formation of galaxies, stellar structure and evolution, and theoretical and observational cosmology.

An anecdote of the best part of my life!

Shihab Nayeem Ahmed

Heading into the IUT IV 2010 and this being only my second competition ever I didn't know what to expect out of it. Although we were the organisers of the tournament and I knew much about what goes on, yet it was unclear to me how it would all come together.

The night before the IUT IV started we all were sitting in a room along with the ex-President Rishad Sharif, the practice went on the whole night, it was 5 in the morning; we just got off to work. Sharif bhai and me went to the bus station to adjust our banner and set off for collecting people from Dhanmondi.

Starting off from Dhaka, I totally felt like I was heading off to a picnic outside Dhaka with the whole of the English Debating fraternity of Bangladesh. Reaching IUT, the registration team got to work while the tab team started to get the tabs out for the first round of debate.

Mr. Abdul Latif from International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) who was the Tab Director for the WUDC 2011, briefed about the style and strategies of the British Parliamentary format of debating. After the first round we had a wonderful lunch beside the lake of IUT. Mabroor Wassey announced the motion for the second round after lunch. Now taking the advantage of power matching this time I met a few teams with whom we pulled off victory for IUT.

Moving on to day 2, the round started with us IUT 3 battling with IUT 1 Chittagong University (CU 2) and NSU 4 with debaters who have been in this fraternity for more than 2 years. We were thinking of bagging at least two points in this round because we knew for us rookies it would be impossible to pull through but it was a great round because the level of the debate was just simply top notch. We end up earning a point and that was great.

On break night the breaking teams and the adjudicators were announced followed by fireworks to wish them success. Although IUT had one team breaking but yet the roar of IUT was off the hook. The next day started at Westin ballroom for hosting the semi-finals and the finals. We had the MD of AB Bank Limited as our special guest, the Vice Chancellor of IUT and the Ambassador of Republic of Turkey. It was IUT 1, NSU 4, BRAC 1 and IBA 1 battling in the finals. The motion in the house was: “This House Will Demolish All Half A Century Old Building In Dhaka City.” With that session ending the tournament director Mr. Tahsin Mahmood introduced the IUT Debating Society. IBA's Gaushey Shahriar is awarded as the top speaker of the IUT IV 2010. There was a round of applause when IUT became the runners up while IBA clinched the title.

While announcing the concluding words my emotions filled up as I was an integral part of the tournament, working day and night, bunking classes, missing quizzes, sleeping at odd times, all of these were coming to an end at that very moment.

For all it was just a 3-day programme, but for IUTDS, it was a 2 months' worth of hard work but the feeling was awesome when we saw the appreciation. Still in my first year, don't know how all these will help to shape my life but the feeling to see the whole of IUTDS defining the best National Tournament ever, it just felt one thing what MasterCard adds say…

“THERE IS SOMETHING MONEY CANT BUY!!!”
And now I know it's all true! I would like to take the pleasure of praising a few people who just made it possible, our president Arif bhai, tournament director Tahsin bhai, Sakib bhai the mastermind behind the magazine Tanvir bhai and Sharif bhai.

Waiting for the next IUT tournament to come. To all the people out there who are not part of the IUTDS. I just have one thing to say - you are missing out one of the best thing that IUT has got to provide!