Prince George, B.C. -  The College of New Caledonia and Team Northern BC announced the signing of two new agreements today during the recent trade mission to Beijing June 14 to 21, which will result in more Chinese students coming to Prince George to attend CNC.

 

The first agreement signed by CNC during the trade mission was with Beijing Jun Yi Private High School and will encourage students to attend CNC after their high school graduation. These students will come to Canada to improve their English skills and begin their university studies at CNC, completing their degrees at Canadian universities. There are currently 150 international students studying at CNC, approximately half of whom are from China. Chinese international students typically stay in northern BC for 3-5 years, contributing $20,000-25,000 each annually to the local economy.

 

The second agreement CNC signed during the Team Northern BC trade mission is with EduGlobal China to provide student recruitment services for CNC. EduGlobal works in partnership with the Canadian Education Centre (CEC) of Beijing to assist and support Chinese students in pursuing their educational goals in Canada. The agreement with EduGlobal China was signed by Ms Lina Li, Manager of Client Services, a CNC alumnus and SFU graduate. She states, “I’m very happy to be able to refer Chinese students to study at CNC in Prince George. CNC was a great place for me to start my Canadian education and I want to encourage other students to do the same.”

 

During the trade mission to China, CNC also began discussions with the Beijing Founders University and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) to develop agreements for joint programming and for providing exchange opportunities for Chinese and Canadian students and faculty. Three students from NUAA are studying in Prince George this summer.

 

Micki Lalonde, CNC’s Manager of International Student Recruitment & Marketing, says, “CNC has been an integral part of the community since 1969, and as such, CNC was pleased to join Team Northern BC in representing Prince George and the North in this trade mission. Participating in this large and well-rounded team of more than thirty participants -- including representatives from First Nations and local government, post-secondary and private sector participants, and mayors and city councilors from five cities -- added strength to our delegation. And the opportunity to invite our Chinese partners to the beautiful BC Pavilion as our guests was a lovely way to repay in a small way the generous hospitality they have always extended to us.”