Georgian College’s Owen Sound Campus could be welcoming as many as 20 Chinese students annually to its Engineering and Marine Navigation programs in coming years.

Under an agreement signed between Georgian and the Tianjin Maritime College (TMC) in Tianjin, China, a new joint marine training program is being created.

Georgian’s Bob Emptage, Dean of Engineering and Technology and Ben Yang, Executive Director of International Education and Training, travelled to China to sign the agreement earlier this month.

Georgian’s renowned Marine diploma programs will be offered at both institutions. Students studying at TMC will receive a diploma from both colleges. In addition, some students will have the opportunity to travel to the Owen Sound Campus to complete the final one or two years of the three-year programs.

“This is an exciting moment for a number of reasons,” said Colin MacNeil, co-ordinator of Georgian’s marine programs. “It further validates the international reputation our Marine cadet programs enjoy, it’s another example of Canada participating in the globalization of the marine industry, and having Chinese students living and studying in Owen Sound will enrich our campus and our community.”

This agreement has been four years in the making and was advanced by the visit of TMC’s President Ma to Owen Sound and his attendance at the grand opening of the new marine training center in 2008. The Owen Sound-based Great Lakes International Marine Training and Research Centre is a world leader in marine training, with state-of-the-art simulators.

For background on the programs and facilities, visit the Great Lakes International Marine Training and Research Centre website at http://marinetraining.ca/ .