The University of Canterbury, New Zealand, has partnered with Australian education giant Navitas in a bid to boost its foreign enrolments. The two will establish a new pathway venture called UC International College, to recruit and prepare international students for the university from the second half of 2013.
The agreement – which falls under Navitas’s University Programs Division – is for a period of five years, with a further five year extension option.
Raising enrolments is “a key strategic development for the university this year”
Vice-chancellor of Canterbury, Rod Carr, said that building the international student population was “a key strategic development for the university this year”.
“This deal with Navitas is one contribution by UC to widen efforts to boost the number of international students who choose to further their studies in Christchurch and shows our support for the recovery of Christchurch and the economic recovery of the Canterbury region,” he added.
Navitas’s University Programs Division offers pathways and degree programmes at 30 colleges in Australia, the UK, the US, Canada, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Africa. In FY2012 enrolments fell by 3% to 14,100, due to visa curbs in the UK and a high dollar in Australia, although there was strong growth in Canada and Singapore.
