Passage helps qualified students overcome upfront financial barriers to studying in Canada.
Merit-based loans for international students
Financing up to
$65,000for tuition + living costs
Match with
In-Demandcareers
Fast
Applicationprocessing
Prepayment
Penalty-freerepay early without fees
Terms and Conditions apply. Subject to successful application and approval by Passage.
Student stories
Students Passage has funded and supported, in their own words. Every quote is verbatim; every story has a face and a video.
Healthcare, skilled trades, early childhood education, and STEM. Not the trendy programs, the needed ones. We partner only on programs that are PGWP-eligible under current IRCC criteria.
We finance the talent the system has historically priced out.
A model that works, and room to take it further. Partner with us and fund the next cohort of graduates.
Passage Philanthropy
Since 2021, Afghan women have been progressively barred from secondary and post-secondary education at home. Passage funds and places up to 100 women at Canadian universities and colleges.
Cohort target
100women per cohort
Pathways
Fourtrades, health, ECE, STEM
Support
Fullfunding, education, mentorship, professional pathways
Location
Canadauniversities and colleges
Why this program exists
Afghanistan is the only country on earth where women are formally banned from education past grade six. The Passage Afghan Program is one small response: a Canadian education for women whose own country has shut them out of the classroom.
Sources: UNESCO, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Human Rights Watch, BBC News.
2021 – 2024
Following the withdrawal of international forces, the Taliban take Kabul on August 15, 2021. Women begin to lose access to public life within weeks.
Girls beyond grade six are barred from returning to secondary classrooms. A planned reopening is reversed within hours of students arriving at school.
Women are barred from attending public and private universities across Afghanistan. Days later, women are also banned from working at non-governmental organizations.
Passage launches the Afghan Program, funding and placing up to 100 Afghan women in Canadian university and college programs. Final immigration decisions remain with IRCC.
Letters from Afghanistan
We receive letters directly from women in Afghanistan. Two are reproduced below, unedited, with their permission and their identities withheld.
Day and night, I tirelessly strived to secure a place at the university and pursue my passion in the field of computer science. Finally, I was granted admission to Kabul University. Filled with hope that I could challenge the prevailing gender, religious, and ethnic inequalities plaguing our society. However, with the recent change in the system in Afghanistan, all my dreams and aspirations have been shattered, mirroring the despair experienced by millions of girls in similar circumstances. Now, confined within the walls of my home, I can only gaze upon a bleak future, accompanied by tears and sighs.
Reflecting on my past, I am compelled to redouble my efforts, to cultivate a greater sense of determination, and to strive towards emancipating myself from these oppressive chains. Furthermore, my ultimate goal is to pave the way for thousands of girls who, like me, have fallen victim to discrimination, so that their destinies may be brighter.
Letter 01 of 02 · name withheld
Both letters are reproduced from the Passage Afghan Program archive. Names and locations are withheld at the request of the writers, in line with safeguarding guidance from the program’s partner organizations.
Partner with the program
The Afghan Program runs on partners: foundations, employers, mentors, and individual donors who share the mission. Support can take the form of financial support, mentorship, internships, or placement pathways.
01
We work with collaborators who share our purpose: providing access to life-changing opportunities for talented individuals locked out of them at home.
02
Passage exists to redefine educational access for international talent. We partner with organizations that treat that as a creative engineering problem, not a slogan.
03
If you've helped international talent successfully transition into Canadian academic or career pathways before, we want to hear from you.
A model that works, and room to take it further. Partner with us and fund the next cohort of graduates.
