Officials with Mennonite Collegiate Institute hope that by this fall they will see the results of a recent student recruitment trip to China. Principal Bernie Loeppky and Paul Peters, Director of Student Life at MCI, embarked on the mission in hopes of re-invigorating the international student program at the Gretna-based school.

As Loeppky explained, this whole process started when they were approached by a recruiter from Winnipeg looking to work with MCI and take representatives on a recruitment trip.

"(She) asked if we might be interested in working with her. We weren't quite sure because this came out of the blue but it turns out that she's been in Canada for eighteen years, she goes to a Mennonite church in Winnipeg, she has a Ph.D. in Economics and teaches at the university so there's all kinds of credibility it suddenly seemed she had."

When asked why officials focused on recruitment in the Asian country, Loeppky said MCI's history of hosting international students played into the decision. While the school has played host to students from a wide variety of 

Loeppky and Peters met with parents of current Chinese students attending MCI as well as representatives from education agencies in China.countries, he noted the bulk of the students have come from China. Loeppky added the market for international student recruitment in China is also quite big, noting there's no shortage of people interested in studying in Canada or the capitol to pay for it.

And so the two men boarded a plane April 17 and spent up to two weeks in China meeting with school officials in that country as well as representatives from education agencies.

Peters said they learned very early into the trip that this was a preliminary step that allowed MCI to be added to a list of North American schools that parents in China could consider sending their kids to.

Loeppky explained the ultimate education goals for Chinese students is to learn English and attend university, and so he said their presentations focused on connecting MCI to those priorities. Those discussions included the registration process and fees included with attending MCI, as well as how the education offered at the school can be a stepping stone for high school students from China to attend university in North America.

He said they also highlighted a new English education program being initiated at MCI.

"We've tied our programming to an EAL (English as an Additional Language) educator that lives nearby and used to teach at the U of M, and she's developing resources to help us boost our EAL program here at MCI."

Peters added that the small classes offered at MCI also appealed to Chinese parents and education officials.

Loeppky noted the Chinese education system is quite a bit different than in Canada and they heard that with an average of 67 kids in one classroom, the pressure to perform is incredible and has created some frustrations for parents whose kids don't fit in with that system.

He added another tradition that happens in most schools in China is that all students in every classroom are publicly ranked.

"So everyone knows exactly where everyone else in the classroom sits as far as performance goes and that performance is connected to the possibility that you might be able to get to a decent high school, or even more so, to get into a university program."

The duo also had the opportunity to visit with the parents of Chinese students currently enrolled MCI and further foster those relationships.

"Relationships are really really important over there and those kinds of connections are ones that have always been a source of students coming over here," said Loeppky.

Now that the pair has had some time to reflect on their trip, Peters said discussions now centre around gaining a better understanding of where MCI's international students come from and how the school can bolster the way in which it integrates and allows those students to be a part of its program.

"Just their interest in learning about Canadian culture and English created all kinds of questions of what cultural exchanges would look like and how (we can) learn from one another beyond just the classroom. I think that increases the way in which we are connected to our international students and (how) our students are connected to where our international students are from," explained Peters.

He noted the success of this trip will be gauged in September and whether or not international students show up for school at MCI.