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Some of China's brightest high-school students are heading for Concordia, and because of a recent trip to China by several administrators, 47 applicants from the Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada got their acceptance packages hand-delivered.
The trip was undertaken by Arts and Science Dean Martin Singer, Engineering and Computer Science Dean Nabil Esmail, Commerce and Administration Associate-Dean Jerry Tomberlin and Aviation MBA Director Dale Doreen.
The Beijing Concord College of Sino-Canada is a model secondary school in a Beijing suburb that chooses its clientele from among China's most promising students and uses, in part, a curriculum supplied by the New Brunswick government.
The Concordia representatives signed an agreement of academic co-operation with Francis Pang, chair of the board of the school, who is paying Concordia a return visit this week.
About 100 students -- twice the number expected -- turned out for an information meeting about Concordia that was jointly organized by the Canadian Education Centre in Beijing and the Chinese Western Returned Scholars Association.
Dean Singer, a sinologist, told Senate last Friday that it was "the most exhilarating experience of my deanship" to see the interest shown by Chinese students in coming to Concordia. He extended his thanks to Registrar Lynne Prendergast for processing the applications from the Beijing Concord students so expeditiously.
At the invitation of the Chinese National Academy of Education Administrations, Dean Singer gave a lecture to an audience of senior and mid-level university managers titled "The Transformation of Canadian Universities in the 21st Century: The Concordia University Experience," focusing on whether aspects of Concordia's academic planning experience are relevant to China.
Singer and Esmail were also able to meet with the vice-minister of education, Wei Yu, who was given an honorary doctorate by Concordia in 1988.
In Nanjing, the Concordia delegation signed another memoran- dum of understanding with Southeast University. SEU has been a Concordia partner for 14 years in projects successively funded by two CIDA grants of about $1 million in total.
- Barbara Black
