Canadore enters into joint venture with aviation school in China.

A new training agreement between Canadore College and an aviation school in China will land about 30 aircraft maintenance students in North Bay by 2003 to complete their education.

The college has entered into a joint venture with Guangzhou Civil Aviation College to offer Canadore's aircraft maintenance technician's (ANT) program to aviation trainees in China.

Starting this September, Guangzhou students will begin studying English and will complete half of the course requirements in the Canadore program for the AMT diploma in their home country over a two-year period. Only the top thirty trainees will be selected to complete their final year of study at Canadore in 2003, says Tim McTiernan, president of Canadore College.

"This really opens up our programming globally, sort of matching the fact that our graduates over the years are now working all over the world," McTiernan says.

Guangzhou College, just inland from Hong Kong in a region formerly known as Canton, has 2,600 full-time students studying for careers in China's expanding aviation industry.

The agreement stems from some fast-paced talks in the months following an August visit to Canadore College by a delegation from Guangzhou. The parties were introduced through Canadore's aviation program partnership with Seneca College, which has other training agreements and faculty exchanges in China.

McTiernan says the Guangzhou group came away impressed with the program and the college's relationship with the city and the local aviation industry. Soon afterward an invitation was extended to go to China to discuss the possibility of a training agreement.

"They have great theory and classroom work, but we have superior practical training," says McTiernan, noting Canadore's standardized training procedures.

Canadore records the training hours of its aviation students in logbooks used for Transport Canada certification. By the time the incoming Chinese students graduate with a Canadore diploma, they will have put in 1,800 training hours toward Canadian certification.

"As the Chinese aviation industry expands, it's looking not only toward internal national standards but a workforce that meets international standards," McTiernan says.

Besides adding some prestige to Canadore's program, the joint venture also adds to their coffers. The program should pump about $300,000 annually into the college through international student fees.

The Chinese students should arrive in time for the completion of Canadore's new $13.5 million aviation campus which is being built this year at Jack Garland Aiport. The college expects to open its new aerospace campus either in late 2002 or early 2003.

McTiernan expects the relationship could be the foundation for greater linkages into other areas of aviation training such as avionics and structures.