Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) international links will further expand this Friday (15 December 2006) when Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter signs an agreement with Sylvia Barnard, President of Cambrian College which is located in Sudbury, Canada.

 

The agreement will further educational and cultural exchange and pave the way for Cambrian College graduates to add a CSU Health Sciences degree to their credentials through an on-campus or distance format.

 

Cambrian College is a college of applied arts and technology which has over 4 400 full-time students and close to 90 full-time programs, including Diplomas in the Health Sciences and Emergency Services. Those students will now have formally recognised credits to articulate into a CSU Paramedic clinical degree.

 

CSU’s Sub Dean International and lecturer in the Biomedical Sciences School Dr Heather Cavanagh said this was a relationship “just waiting to happen.

 

“The majority of the staff in Cambrian’s Paramedic health science program are CSU graduates. Cambrian will now direct their students as they come through their diploma into the upgrade to degree level.

 

“The fact that they approached us to take this partnership further reflects the standard of the CSU degrees,” said Dr Cavanagh.

 

The agreement will promote international understanding including opportunities for international exchange, according to Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Goulter. “The University not only delivers distinctive and quality educational programs on a national basis, but also now internationally as well.

 

“This is our first major link with a non-metropolitan institution in Canada. Cambrian has a lot in common with CSU. It is a very entrepreneurial, forward thinking college with a very good reputation. It is in a similar position to CSU in that it is about 500 kilometres outside of Toronto in a rural area.

 

“Cambrian is a large provider of distance education and has a large cohort of international students. It has a really strong educational ethos, and has developed very good relationships with industry.”

 

Ms Barnard, President, Cambrian College said the agreement will pave the way for Cambrian graduates to further their education and enhance their employment opportunities. “Our goal is to provide our students with the best educational opportunities possible. This agreement with CSU does just that.”  

 

As well as the Health agreement, graduates of Cambrian’s three-year Software Engineering Technology and its three-year Computer Engineering Technology programs can now articulate into CSU’s Bachelor of Information Technology.

 

It is fitting then that the agreement will be signed ‘virtually’ via eDome – a video conferencing system developed by Cambrian. The signing will take place simultaneously in Canada and the Bathurst and Albury Campuses of CSU.