'The numbers are mind-boggling,' says college president

Ron Common, Sault College president, sees China as a land of opportunity.

Common recently returned from a visit to China, in which he and other Sault College administrators began to build relationships with Chinese colleges and student bodies, and foresees a day in which Chinese professors, teachers and students will benefit from instruction received at Sault College.

“The numbers are mind boggling,” Common told the Sault College board of directors at their monthly meeting Thursday.

“Many Chinese cities have close to the population of Canada in them, and many colleges and universities have student populations that exceed the population of Sault Ste. Marie.”

There are 1,200 vocational colleges and more than 2,000 universities in China, Common told the board.

“An interesting thing is happening in China which creates opportunities for us,” Common said.

“The government of China is concerned they’re producing too many graduates who are unemployable and they want a greater focus on vocation-oriented institutions.”

600 Chinese universities have been told by the government of China to transform themselves into vocational colleges, Common said.

Common told the board that opens the door for Sault College to offer teacher training at the community college level for Chinese professors and teachers as those universities transform themselves, as well as opening the door for Chinese students interested in doing at least one year of their practical, hands-on postsecondary education at Sault College.

Common and other Sault College administrators joined delegations from other Canadian colleges at a conference of educators in Beijing, with the help of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC), and also met with college officials in three other Chinese cities.

Common signed one memorandum of understanding with the Hunan College of Foreign Studies, and Sault College officials will be soon returning to build on that memorandum of understanding as well as other relationships which have begun with Chinese colleges, Common told reporters.

“I have committed Sault College will come back and engage in detailed discussions in February with between six and eight of the colleges who are very hot to advance their agendas with us.”

“We have to spend three or four days at each institution and meet with them…between now and February we’ll be doing a lot of correspondence with the institutions who are very interested in us,” Common said.

Chinese students are interested in Sault College programs which deal with information technology, engineering, skilled trades training and the Aircraft Structural Repair program (based out of London, Ontario), Common said.

The Chinese are very interested in nursing and aviation programs offered at Sault College, but those programs are already well-subscribed with domestic students, Common said.

On a side note, Common told the board aviation is of great interest in China.

The Chinese want to train 500,000 civil aviation pilots over the next 15 years, as wealth increases in China and more Chinese corporations want their own aircraft, Common said.

Common told the board other Canadian colleges are moving ahead in their partnerships with Chinese colleges, and that Sault College needs to get involved as well.

Sault College will be able to share an office space in China with Canadore College or Centennial College, Common said.

As relationships build, Chinese students will get at least part of the training they need at Sault College, while the school will be tapping a new source for students.

“Demographics are quite clear in northern Ontario…we’re going to have to look for other (global) areas and partners,” Common said.

“The world has changed and we have to look at bigger partnerships…we cannot just look locally, we have to look regionally and beyond,” said Susan Hunter, Sault College director of marketing and communications, speaking to reporters.

“Unless you live in the GTA, the province is not changing demographically, it’s on the decline, so that means we have to think of new ways of exploring.”