BCIT establishing a stronger international relationship with its partner institutions
two BCIT staff members has strengthened BCIT’s international relationship with partner institutions and helped enrich the academic experience for domestic students.
The trip was taken in late 2012 by Tracy Wang, the business development manager for BCIT International, and Pommashea Noel-Bently, vice president of external relations.
The purpose of the visit was to welcome new students enrolled in the international programs at the partner institutions.
“It is the most important event overseas, even more than convocation, since it is hard to get into post-secondary institutions,” explained Wang in an email interview with The Link.
For nearly 10 years Wang has been working with BCIT International and has been the business development manager for five. She has been visiting the partner institutions since 2008.
“I have witnessed impressive progress that our partner institutions have achieved through partnering with BCIT,” said Wang.
Four of BCIT’s Chinese partner institutes in Tianjin, Chengdu, Nanning, and Whenzhou were visited on this trip, and BCIT has established international programs in mechanical [pullquote]The number of international students has more than doubled in 2012.[/pullquote]engineering and computer systems technology in these cities.
According to Wang the number of international students has more than doubled in 2012 in comparison to the number of international students at BCIT in 2007.
The school is now host to 2,035 students from over 86 countries, with students from China contributing to one third of BCIT’s international students.
“These partnerships have been of great value to the institute as a whole,” says Wang, “attracting international students, generating international revenues, creating a multicultural environment in BCIT by blending foreign students in our classrooms.”
Wang and Noel-Bentley also used the trip to plan for the BCIT Student Ambassador programs scheduled for the summer.
One of these programs allows over 200 BCIT students and faculty members from mechanical engineering, business, and computer technology to participate in a two week program. Students take part in activities such as tutoring and teaching English at one of BCIT’s partner institutions in China or South Korea. “It provides [our students with] the opportunities for acquiring academic, cultural and social experiences,” explained Wang.
In the future, Wang and BCIT International plan on strengthening their already existing partnerships with Asia and South America and building an international relationship with other regions such as Indonesia, Thailand and Turkey.
“BCIT now seems to have a mandate to keep up, so that our programs can still be at the leading edge, otherwise our advantages will no longer be sustained within the next five years,” asserted Wang.[hr]
