Saint Mary's University to educate Nova Scotia business owners on China 101
Want to do business in China? Saint Mary's University in Halifax is teaming up with Beijing Normal University in Zhuhai to offer a short training course — call it China 101 — for business owners in Nova Scotia.
The relationship between the universities goes back 13 years and allows Chinese students to study two years at Beijing Normal University, followed by two years in Halifax, to earn degrees in both arts and business.
This winter, professors from Saint Mary's will travel to Zhuhai to teach, and Saint Mary's students will do their first two years in Halifax followed by two years in China.
Next year, the four-year program will be extended to include bachelor of science and master of finance degrees.
"We have had student exchanges, we've had exchanges through faculty and administration," said Lynn Coveyduck, the senior director of outreach for the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University.
"We thought we could take some of that expertise that we have developed and provide that as a way to demystify China to companies that might be interested in exporting there."
Program dubbed Chinese Competencies
A memorandum of understanding was signed on Friday in Zhuhai, a port city in China, by the presidents of both universities. Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, who is on a 10-day trade mission to find new markets for Nova Scotia exports, was also on hand.
Nova Scotia exports $275 million worth of seafood and pulp to China each year. A report from the One Nova Scotia Commission — which diagnosed a declining provincial economy — recommended doubling exports.
"One of the things we have looked at, as the Sobey School of Business, is wanting to help companies grow and prosper," said Coveyduck.
"We thought maybe we can take that Chinese expertise we have here at the university and provide that as a service to companies that didn't really know if they might be able to expand or export to a country like China."
The result is a training program, dubbed Chinese Competencies, which is expected to start some time next year.
Coveyduck said it will include basic instruction in the Chinese language as well as lectures in Chinese history and culture given over three to five days by professors at Saint Mary's.
'An immersive experience'
Nova Scotia business owners will then leave for "an immersive experience" at Beijing Normal University in Zhuhai for a week or two.
"They will then learn from Chinese faculty at BNUZ who have both industry and academic expertise in the region," said Coveyduck.
"It might be about the legal aspects of doing business there, or the logistics of getting your product to market. What we would hope to do is provide introductions to companies from Nova Scotia, a little bit of matchmaking."
Both the cost and the composition of the certificate course — to be launched through Saint Mary's University's Continuing Education and the Sobey School of Business — have yet to be determined.
The reciprocal arrangement has paid off for Saint Mary's University. Last April, the university had 928 Chinese students on campus, nearly half the number of international students enrolled.
International students account for about 30 per cent of the student body at Saint Mary's, while students from China make up 40 per cent of the students in the business programs.
