This app helps soften the blow of culture shock to international students in Canada

07 Sep 2017

Finding out to “hows” and “whats” is a daunting task for any international student, especially when they first land in a foreign place.

Questions about orientation day or deadline to change courses arise, but answers are hard to find.

The iCent app plans to solve this problem by providing information about accommodation, transport, health-care and employment all in one place and in multiple languages, CBC reports.

Thank You Sheridan!!!!! https://t.co/vemtUu5NQw

— iCent app (@iCentapp) August 26, 2015

Its creator, Ganesh Neelanjanmath, calls it an “acclimatisation tool” for students to settle into Canada’s local communities and academic systems.

The idea for the app came to him on his first day as an international student at Sheridan College in Toronto while looking for a job. He did not know he needed to first get a job offer before he could get a social insurance number (SIN). The confusion led to him having to make several trips before he could resolve the issue.

“Almost every international student faces the same challenges,” Ganesh said, “so I thought of building this app to help ease student’s life.”

The mobile app, which has since been downloaded11,000 times, is available in the Google and Apple app stores. Information students can get from iCent include those about their institution or school, immigration, campus maps as well as important dates.

Students can also fix meetings with other students to make friends and look for roommates or traveling partners via the app.