Thompson Rivers University has expanded its global involvement with the signing of an agreement with Maple Leaf Educational System (MLES)—the largest BC curriculum teaching offshore school in China.
Under the agreement of cooperation, 20 MLES students will be offered guaranteed employment as BC-Certified Teachers by MLES once they have successfully completed TRU’s Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Education programs and obtained BC Teacher Certification.
Eligible MLES students will be admitted to TRU’s four-year Bachelor of Science program and add an intensive 12 months of study in the Bachelor of Education program. The successful students will return to China upon receiving BC Teachers Certification and receive the same compensation as other BC-certified teachers recruited to work in China.
“Under the terms of this agreement TRU will teach Chinese students science and math and then how to become the science and math teachers for Maple Leaf’s vast network of private schools,” said Alan Shaver, TRU President and Vice-Chancellor. “This really is a significant internationalization of BC education.”
Graduates from China attending TRU from MLES will have a distinct advantage as they have a BC Dogwood Diploma because MLES offers a BC Ministry of Education-approved high school education. They are well prepared to integrate into the Canadian education system because BC teachers have taught them prior to arriving in Canada.
Alan Shaver and Baihua Chadwick, TRU’s Associate Vice-President International and CEO Global Operations, traveled to China’s largest private international school in late November.
“We are proud that TRU’s Faculty of Science and Faculty of Education are able to work together to support Maple Leaf’s efforts to train BC-certified teachers for its schools,” said Baihua Chadwick. “TRU has an excellent reputation in China as does Maple Leaf Schools. This is a partnership that will have long-lasting benefits to us all.”
Maple Leaf has 46 schools, including preschool, elementary, foreign nationals’ schools and high schools. More than 17,500 students were enrolled in Maple Leaf schools this fall with 7,077 of them studying BC curriculum courses.
MLES employs more than 2,500 people, with 1,400 of them being teachers of Chinese nationality and 315 BC-certified.
Media inquiries
Alan Shaver
Thompson Rivers University
President and Vice-Chancellor
Phone: 250-828-5001
Email: president@tru.ca
