Senate approves prep college for international students at SFU
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Nello Angerilli, acting associate vice-president, students & international, 604.291.3583, nello_angerilli@sfu.ca
Julie Ovenell-Carter, Media & PR, 604.291.4323, joc@sfu.ca
In February, the vote was postponed after a number of students and faculty members expressed opposition to the deal and complained they had not been given enough time to consider its details.
“This gives us one more resource to support our international student recruitment efforts, and we will continue to work as closely as possible with our existing college partners to enhance the flow of international transfer students to SFU,” says Nello Angerilli, acting associate vice-president, students & international.
“IBT will contribute to our global reach, allowing us to access international students who are currently under-represented at the university. And all our students will benefit from the instructional and physical resources this agreement will make possible.”
The new facility, Fraser International College (FIC), will open next September with approximately 120 students, expanding to 1,000 students within five years and eventually 2,000 students. FIC will be a wholly owned subsidiary of IBT and will have its own local management.
SFU will supply the buildings and other infrastructure. In return, SFU will receive as rent about one-third of IBTs student tuition income, which IBT has pegged at about $600,000 per year initially, rising to $10 million per year once the college reaches optimum enrollment. The university will use the revenues to offset the costs of providing space, and to compensate departments for their work with FIC, expand the scholarship and bursary programs available to all international students and increase other student services.
Since 1994, IBT has established 13 private colleges and has affiliation agreements with seven post-secondary institutions in Australia, Britain, Zambia and Kenya.
The new college will recruit and employ its own instructors, but SFU will provide assistance in identifying possible instructors and will ensure their qualifications meet the university's own requirements for similar positions. The curriculum will be designed to provide a complete first-year program for transfer to a reasonably wide range of SFU undergraduate programs. An academic advisory committee composed of SFU and IBT members will set academic policy and oversee the academic quality of FIC courses.
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