Moose Jaw will soon become home to one of Saskatchewan's first privately funded international English language schools.

The A & L Royal Academy starts classes this fall and hopes to be able to offer English-as-a-second-language programing to 175 students within the next two years. Jeffery Mathieson, is the principal and director of the new institution and says that the school is unique because it is 100% tuition-based, with no government funding at all.

"There are private religious institutions like Luther College in Regina, but they get 80% of their funding from the government and 20% from tuition."

While there are some English language services already here in Moose Jaw, through organizations like The Moose Jaw Multicultural Council and Sask Polytechnic, Mathieson says that the academy will not be in competition with them.

"We recruit our own students from overseas. Most of them are coming to upgrade the English skills they already have so that they can pass the entrance exams for university. Now Moose Jaw does have the Welcome Centre, but they're mostly working with newcomers to Canada who have come here as maybe refugees or have just applied for citizenship. So they're dealing with a different clientele than we are."

The Academy will recruit young adults who are already students and will focus on improving their English academic skills. This approach is something near and dear to the heart of the school's owner and founder, Toronto businessman Wing Lam. Lam came to Canada himself over 30 years ago as a student and found it very difficult to integrate into the educational system due to the lack of English language services at the time. So offering this service to the next generation of international students is very important to him.

Lam chose Moose Jaw as the location of the new institution because of the economic benefits that living in Saskatchewan can bring to newcomers. Mathieson also points out the financial boon that 175 new students will bring to Moose Jaw.

"There's a $25,000-$30,000 positive economic impact per student. They have to pay tuition but they also have to pay for housing, clothing, food, and transportation. All that money is spent here in the region. If they go into a home-stay program where they live with a family, that family gets paid. If we get up to our goal capacity it could be a real economic boom for the city."

For now, the academy is starting off this semester with a smaller class of 15 students. Part of the process of bringing in more students will be to get the school accredited with Languages Canada, a private language association that is recognized by the Canadian Government.

"We have to operate as a school under their regulations for a year before we can apply for accreditation. Then they come and inspect us and we can get accreditation then."

Being a private institution gives the academy a little more freedom in the way they operate but they still have to comply with Languages Canada's standards and requirements. 

Mathieson says they also hope to have a high school for international students next year as well which will be accredited by the provincial Ministry of Education.