I recently graduated with a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering. Unfortunately, my experience at the university was very disappointing. The courses we were taught were not practical or useful, and it often felt like the quality of education and student learning were not a priority. As international students paying around $12,000 per semester, we expected better academic support and services. We even had to pay for parking, copying, and printing.
When I first arrived, I had serious difficulties finding housing. I emailed the university several times asking for help, but I received no support. If it had not been for Iranian friends in the city, I don’t know what would have happened to me.
During my studies, some classmates and I raised concerns about a professor’s performance. After that, the professor treated us very unfairly for two semesters, and the situation eventually escalated to a formal appeal and intervention from university officials. Finally, that professor added 10 marks to the whole class.
I also tried to get urgent help from the university’s Career Zone with writing my resume. I needed urgent assistance while applying for my first job, but eventually I had to go to Confederation College, where they helped me for free to prepare my resume so I wouldn’t miss a job opportunity.
During my studies, Iran went through extremely stressful events, including war and the killing of tens of thousands of protesters by the Islamic Republic. As Iranian students, we organized a memorial event to honor the victims and show support for the Iranian people who were massacred by our government. Unfortunately, none of the university officials attended the event except, I believe, the Vice President of Research.
.Millions of Iranians have clearly stated that the Islamic Republic does not represent them, and the current flag of the regime does not represent the Iranian people. Large protests around the world have shown which flag truly represents the Iranian people.
We repeatedly explained that replacing the current regime flag with the real Iranian flag would be a humanitarian gesture of support for the Iranian people. However, the university dismissed our request as a “personal request” and chose to continue displaying the Islamic Republic’s flag as the flag of Iran, and it has only one meaning for us: Lakehead preferred to support that terrorist and anti-human-rights government instead of the Iranian people and human rights. For many Iranians in Thunder Bay, this decision felt deeply disappointing and dismissive
