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Timmins college signs partnership agreement with Chinese school

Electrical engineering technician and motive power technician-automotive service programs will be taught overseas
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From left are Mary Min, deputy director of international affairs at Northern College; Pen Yuexiang, director of education administration at Hunan Industry Polytechnic; Xiao Wangbin, director of personnel at Hunan Industry Polytechnic; Dr. Fred Gibbons, president at Northern College; Timmins Mayor Steve Black; and Edna Zhang, manager of international operations at Northern College. (Supplied photo)

Northern College in Timmins has signed a partnership agreement with Hunan Industry Polytechnic in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, allowing the electrical engineering technician and motive power technician-automotive service programs to be taught overseas.

“As part of these agreements, not only are students studying our curriculum in China, but we have had several exchanges of faculty over the course of the year,” Northern College president Dr. Fred Gibbons said in a Nov. 9 news release.

“Where faculty come here and can be taught the instructional techniques that we use in our classrooms, visiting faculty can then bring that back with them and begin to impart those methods and techniques in their own classrooms.”

Northern has partnered with the Chinese school since 2015. Hunan Industry Polytechnic already provides Northern’s mechanical engineering technician program.

The partnership also allows for teacher education training and faculty and student exchange opportunities.

“We import the most advanced vocational education from Canada to China,” said delegation member Peng Yuexiang, director of the education administration office. “The agreement is mainly about student exchange from China and into Northern College, including faculty exchanges as well.”

The signed agreements will be reviewed by the Chinese government before the programs can commence. The first intake is expected to take place in early 2020.