Lt.-Col. B.S. Sandhu, President, Continental Group of Institutes, and Stephanie Forsyth, President and CEO of Red River College, sign a Memorandum of Understanding in Mohali, India.

Building on the success of its strong relationship with China, Red River College is actively recruiting in India this week and will sign deals with five educational institutions to bring hundreds of new students to Manitoba.

The enrolment of Indian students will increase opportunities for Manitoba students and help address Manitoba’s shortage of skilled labour. This year RRC has more than 150 students from China alone, and another 380 from several other countries, enrolled in three campuses. These successful models will be repeated to attract students from India with five-year agreements. After recruiting in India, RRC will target more international students working with sister campuses and educators in South America.

“Our India relationships benefit the college, the Province and India,” said RRC President and CEO Stephanie Forsyth from Delhi, India. “Foreign students, who pay the full cost of their education, allow us to develop even more programs and seats for Manitobans. Just as importantly, foreign students bring the global community to us. When they join our students and faculty on campus they help us all learn about their culture, and that helps us see how we can grow Manitoba and Canadian business abroad. India has a growing number of youth striving to achieve a strong post-secondary education, but the competition for limited spaces in India is strong. We provide educational opportunities in Canada that might otherwise be impossible to attain in India. The vast majority of these students have their sights on Canada as their future home.”

Forsyth is in India this week as part of the Manitoba government’s trade mission and will sign education agreements with:

• Bal Bharati Institute, Mumbai, India
• Continental Institute for International Studies, Chandigarh, India
• Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, India
• St. Mary’s College, Hyderabad, India
• Xplora Design Skool, Ahmedabad, India

“RRC’s work in India and China complement our efforts to expand trade and investment with the world’s fastest growing economies, while promoting Manitoba internationally as one of the best places in Canada to immigrate, put down roots and get an education,” said Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger. “More families and businesses are choosing Manitoba, and to grow our economy we need this trend to continue and to expand. RRC is an excellent partner in helping us do both,” said Selinger.

Institutions in India that RRC will sign agreements with this week are particularly interested in getting training for their students in RRC’s Aircraft Maintenance and Repair, Technical Communication, Creative Communications, Business Administration, Electrical Technology, International Business, Hospitality Management, Digital Media Design, Graphic Design and 3D Computer Graphics programs, said Eddy Lau, International Education Project Manager at RRC.

“Today many Manitoba companies are either working in foreign countries or have plans to expand their business abroad. When local students have the chance to study with foreign students or even just go out for pizza together, it helps build their ability to work for Canadian companies that work worldwide,” said Lau, who grew up in Malaysia.

For more information, contact Shirley Muir at 204-771-7523.