Sault College continues with its efforts to attract international students.
“We’ve certainly had a dramatic increase in international applications, by 77.9 percent,” said Ron Common, Sault College president, speaking to reporters after Thursday’s Sault College board of governors meeting.
That 77.9 percent equals 299 applicants.
“That’s just applications,” Common said.
“Now our job is to get those translated into confirmations, and also translated into applicants who have their visa status as well.”
Krista Pearson, Sault College registrar, was on her way to India to promote Sault College even as Common spoke to reporters after Thursday’s board meeting.
Ted Newbery, Sault College school of continuing education chair, is already in China to promote Sault College as a follow up to a visit Common made to China last fall.
Common said India, China, and South America are the sources of most of the international student applications.
“We have targets (in terms of how many international students Sault College is looking to attract),” said Leo Tiberi, Sault College vice president academic.
“We want to keep it at two to three percent of our total student body (of approximately 2,400 students overall). That’s our ultimate goal right now, we’re moving towards that by 2017,” Tiberi said.
Engineering, information technology, business and health programs are of special interest among international student applicants, Tiberi said.
International applicants are also interested in nursing and aviation programs offered at Sault College, but those programs are already well-subscribed with domestic students.
“We don’t displace our domestic students with our international students,” Common said.
For that reason, there are no plans, for example, to have Chinese students in the Sault College aviation program.
However, Common said, the opening up of Chinese civilian airspace and a need for thousands of civil aviation pilots in China over the next several years is good news for Sault College aviation graduates.
“It does create opportunities for our students to work internationally. We’ve got graduates of the Sault College aviation program working in China right now, in aviation, working for airlines.”
Meanwhile, in keeping with the international theme, a group of international recruiters visited Sault College earlier this month for a familiarization tour.
Steve Witty, a Sault College professor, is currently on a faculty exchange visit in Brazil.
Susan Hunter, Sault College director of external relations, said two professors from Mexico will be arriving in Sault Ste. Marie Saturday to begin a faculty exchange visit.
The professors will be staying for about a month, and brushing up on their English language skills.
“They’ll be coming to the College each day working with us as colleagues,” Hunter said.
In other Sault College news, Peter Berlingieri was acclaimed by the board as board of governors chair for another one-year term beginning in September 2015.
Lyne Gagnon was selected first vice chair, while David Zuccato was selected second vice chair, each for one-year terms beginning in September 2015.