North Island College Business Administration students will get better acquainted with our North American neighbours this spring, studying abroad in the US and Mexico through the North American Approaches to Enterprise Control (NORATEC) project.
Funded by the Government of Canada, the NORATEC project gives NIC students the opportunity to study at a partner college or university for two to five months. The project’s six participating institutions are located across the continent in the Yucatan, Mexico City, Utah, California, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.
According to NIC Instructor and NORATEC Project Director Nick Robinson, the benefits to students reach far beyond the semester that they spend abroad. “Exchanges are a rewarding and often life-changing experience for students. Learning to adapt to a new culture, climate, and worldview has lifetime benefits.”
Last fall, three NIC Business Administration students spent a semester studying abroad — two at Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah and one at Universidad Nactional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. “The application process for our 2007 student exchanges is well under way,” says Robinson. “We already have one student confirmed to study at Utah Valley State College this spring and at least three others will be going to Coastline Community College in Southern California.”
In exchange, NIC is currently hosting three students from partner institutions in Mexico. “An added benefit for our incoming students is the support they receive from the local community,” says Robinson. “Both the Comox Valley Economic Development Society and Comox ValleyLinks have provided volunteer work placements for our exchange students from Mexico, giving them a first-hand understanding of the Canadian business environment.”
For Tania Reyna Miranda, a Mexican student who has decided to stay for a second semester, attending NIC has been inspiring. “Studying here has definitely changed my way of seeing business, the world, and its cultures. Also being so in touch with nature makes me respect it more and be more conscious about it,” she remarked.
Reyna, who aspires to run her own business as a consultant, is looking forward to applying her experience to help businesses in Mexico when she returns. Studying at NIC, she says, has given her new confidence in dealing with Canadian businesses, the insight to understand the problems they face, as well as the knowledge of how to help them solve those problems.
For more information on the NORATEC project or NIC’s Business Administration program, visit North Island College online at www.nic.bc.ca or contact Nick Robinson at 334-5000 ext. 4125 in Courtenay or 923-9758 in Campbell River.
Image: NIC exchange students from Mexico Tania Reyna Miranda (left) and Marco Perez Canche (right) explore the BC coast.
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For further information contact:
Susan Toresdahl
Director College Relations
(250) 334-5271
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