Holland College hosted its third best practice symposium for instructors in the college's Educational Joint Venture in China recently. Five Holland College staff joined 45 Chinese administrators and instructors for the three-day best practice symposium, which included a series of workshops and presentations on competency-based education teaching practices, model class workshops, Chinese partner school best practices, and program sharing sessions.

The symposium was originally scheduled to be held in Wenchuan, but a rain storm and severe landslide a week before damaged 250 metres of a highway to the small city in the mountains. As a result the symposium was moved to Deyang City. With the assistance and support from the staff of Chengdu Electromechanical College and Wenchuan County Department of Education, the last-minute move was seamless, and didn't dampen the participants' high spirits and lively participation.

Almost 80 per cent of the participants were first-time attendees to an EJV Best Practice Symposium, and almost half have never had the opportunity to visit Holland College in Prince Edward Island. This made the sessions particularly important for this group.

Mr. Li Wenhu, President of Changzhou Institute of Technology said that the workshops and presentations enhances the relationship between Holland College and the post-secondary institutions in China with which they partner.

"The symposium further deepened the mutual understanding and enhanced the friendship between Holland College and its Chinese partners," he said.

"During the symposium, both Sino-Canadian sides reached consensus with regard to issues such as improving EJV quality and overcoming obstacles in EJV programs. All the Chinese partner colleges and Holland College had productive and effective discussions regarding the future expansion of EJV in China which laid a solid foundation for the further development of EJV."

Susan Howard, Holland College's Director of Strategic Development, agreed.

"The EJV Best Practice Symposium was an incredibly powerful demonstration of the benefits of cross-cultural business and educational partnerships. The opportunity to compare our experiences and discover the similarities in the post-secondary education challenges that we face enables us to expand our approaches and techniques for delivering quality applied education," she said.

Holland College's EJV agreements with Chinese institutions enable the delivery of Holland College curricula in a variety of areas, including golf, tourism and hospitality, information technology, and business. Currently, there are 1,500 students enrolled in EJV programs in China. Find out more about Holland College's activities in China here.