At the invitation of Thompson Rivers University (TRU), President Guanzhong Lu visited Thomson Rivers University (TRU),Canada during 7 – 12 February 2012 to participate in the International Education Leaders Panel in conjunction with TRU’s 19th International Days. At the forum, President Lu made a keynote speech on the exploration and practice in education internationalization by Shanghai Institute of Technology.

TRU was founded by the State of British Columbia province, Canada, as a public comprehensive tertiary school in 1970, and it has been implementing a joint venture program with SIT for ten consecutive years in the field of International Marketing at Bachelor degree level. This Program has been acclaimed as by the officials from Canadian Embassy in China as the best Practice of the international education project. TRU currently has the total enrollment of international students of 1600 from 80 countries, the enrollment accounts for 12% of the total number in TRU. The event of “International Days” aims to showcase TRU’s achievements in education internationalization as well as the diversified cultures from all different countries. Besides, the International Education Leaders Panel provides a platform for the exchange and discussions of the viewpoints of Education Internationalization as a global strategy. Attending the Forum were the officials like Honorable Ms. Naomi Yamamoto, Advanced Education Minister, BC, Ms. Cheryl Wenezenki-Yolland, Vice Minister of Advanced Education Ministry, BC, Ms. Karen McBride, President of Canadian International Education Association, as well as the Presidents, educational officials representing the countries of Australia, Columbia and Saudi Arabian Regions.

During his visit, President Lu took the chance to meet with over 10 students who are currently studying at TRU on the joint venture program. From the feedback of both TRU staff and students, we have found that SIT students perform well both in their academic studies and in their their involvements in the cultural activities on campus and local communities. Some of them have had the opportunities to have internship in local enterprises. President Lu encouraged them to continually study hard at TRU. Besides, President also met with TRU senior executives, visited various schools at TRU, such as School of Business, Science, Humanities, vocational education. President Lu participated in the business reception hosted by TRU and Kamloops City Council when he made the introductions on SIT’s expereience in the integrations of Campus, community and also the high-tech park in its education operations. Mr. Peter Gordon Milobar, Mayor of Kamloops, Honorable Ms. Naomi Yamamoto, Advanced Education Minister, BC and other representativies from both business and education sectors attended this reception.

During “International Days”, Honorable Ms. Naomi Yamamoto, Advanced Education Minister, BC met with President Lu and exchanged views on the further promotion of the process of education internationalization among universities between two countries.

President Lu’s visit once again further cemented the strategic partnership between SIT and TRU, built up the links between SIT and the institutions of other countries and regions, and demonstrated SIT’s academic inner capacities in many fields. This visit has drawn much attention from the relevant government agencies in BC, also it laid on a solid basis for the future co-operations between SIT and institutes in Canada.

 

President Guanzhong Lu met with Associate Vice President of TRU, Dr. Wes J. Koczka 
and 11 students studying at TRU through SIT-TRU joint program 

 

President Guanzhong Lu met with Honorable Ms. Naomi Yamamoto, 
Advanced Education Minister of British Columbia Province in Canada