CNC to begin student and staff exchanges with large Australian university

The College of New Caledonia (CNC) has made a new friend from down unda.

CNC has signed a memorandum of understanding with Western Sydney University (WSU) which means the two institutions will participate in student and faculty exchange programs and research activities.

“It seems to me we have a wonderful opportunity to encourage Australian students to come and spent time in Prince George and very keen to have students from CNC to come and spend time at Western Sydney,” said Barney Glover, president and vice-chancellor of WSU, during the singing on Jan. 24.

“It’s very important that students have the opportunity for international experiences,” said Glover. “As well as with our staff -  staff from here will have a chance to spend some time in Sydney and look at what we are doing across our campus network, and our staff will have an opportunity to come here.”

WSU is a large Australian university with about 45,000 students across 11 campuses.  Glover says that about 12 per cent of the student population participates in international experiences. He says students mostly go to Asia but are increasingly going to Canada, as well. 

“It’s very different to northern British Columbia but that is a good thing,” said Glover, of Western Australia. “It’s good to see people having an opportunity to experience different countries and different cultures.”

He said despite the difference in size between the two institutions they have very similar programs in a range of areas and both WSU and CNC are focused on providing more opportunities for Indigenous students.

“In Western Sydney, we have a large First Nations population and we are catering to providing accesses to higher education for First Nations people in Australia. There are similarities in some of the challenges facing First Nations people in Australia as there are here in Canada.”

He said he would like to see Indigenous students at WSU come and work with CNC and communities in northern B.C. as part of their courses.

“We are looking for outbound opportunities not only for our students but also for our faculty and staff,” said CNC president Henry Reiser. 

“I’m already keen to have our facilities people to go to Western Australia’s buildings and see how they have made significant improvements in student support, and I’d like to see engagement of the first nations faculty and support staff interact with the same group at western Sydney university.

Reiser said that the two institutions have already begun discussing exchanging nursing students to do a part of their training in Australia, and vice-versa. 

“The experience they could have is world class, and it's remarkable,” said Reiser. “Having an institution, the size and quality of Western Sydney University become a partner with us is quite an achievement.”