TRU World Associate Vice-President Cyndi McLeod announced today that the university has signed an expanded Protocol of Cooperation with the Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena (CONADI), the government agency responsible for representing the interests of indigenous peoples in Chile.
The protocol extends the university’s previous working relationship with CONADI, and provides a basis for expanded training programs in both Canada and Chile for indigenous groups from Chile. To date, TRU has conducted two such programs for CONADI trainees in partnership with the Kamloops Indian Band.
Wilson Reyes Araya & Cyndi McLeod
TRU World Associate Vice-President Cyndi McLeod announced today that the university has signed an expanded Protocol of Cooperation with the Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena (CONADI), the government agency responsible for representing the interests of indigenous peoples in Chile.
The protocol extends the university’s previous working relationship with CONADI, and provides a basis for expanded training programs in both Canada and Chile for indigenous groups from Chile. To date, TRU has conducted two such programs for CONADI trainees in partnership with the Kamloops Indian Band.
While TRU’s previous training for CONADI has focused on tourism development, this new Protocol of Cooperation sets the stage for further programs in Tourism but also in a number of additional priority areas, including English as a Second Language, Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Geothermal Energy, Applied Technology, and technical trades.
“TRU’s relationships with, and programming for, First Nations communities provides the foundation for our close working relationship with CONADI,” said McLeod. “These expanded programs in Chile will engage not only TRU and CONADI, but also First Nations groups and other private and public-sector partners in both countries.”
CONADI’s national director, Wilson Reyes Araya, will travel to Kamloops later in 2007 for further discussions and planning for 2008.
TRU has undertaken a number of initiatives in Chile in recent years, including field schools, tourism development studies, teacher training programs, two World Bank-funded projects, and a number of technical missions for the Chilean government. The expanded Protocol of Cooperation signed this month builds on two previous agreements between TRU and CONADI an initial protocol signed in 2004 and renewed in February of this year.
Canada’s most comprehensive university, TRU’s international projects and linkages currently extend to more than 45 countries with students from more than 65 nations enrolled at the main campus in Kamloops. TRU World is the university’s international education, training, and development division. Please see www.truworld.ca for more.
For more information:
Cyndi McLeod
Associate Vice-President, TRU World
Thompson Rivers University
Tel: 1-250-828-5191
Email: cmcleod@tru.ca
