14 April 2015 Lincoln contesting megacity education market

Lincoln’s forging of new ties in one of the world’s biggest cities shows it can hold its own in a strongly competitive recruitment environment, the University’s Business Development Manager Dr Samuel Yu says.

A co-operation agreement between Shanghai Jiguang Polytechnic College (SJPC), New Zealand College of Business (NZCB) and Lincoln was recently signed by Deputy Vice-Chancellor – International and Business Development, Mr Jeremy Baker.

The agreement involves closer collaboration to offer SJPC students the opportunity to matriculate in New Zealand via a special pathway — studying firstly NZCB diplomas and then Lincoln's bachelor and/or master qualifications.

“The NZCB-Lincoln pathway is a good way for students to have a tangible, clear pathway to an internationally recognized qualification at Lincoln,” Dr Yu says.

He says although many New Zealand organisations are increasingly exploring opportunities in the inner cities of China, Shanghai city, located in the eastern coastal region, remains an important top tier one populated city, with its 24 million inhabitants.

But it does come with fierce competition from education institutes in the United States and the United Kingdom.

However, Dr Yu says, Lincoln University is “on the right track with clearly differentiated, strongly specialised, premium offerings that can stand out from the crowd”.

“This is from forming strong local partnerships, such as with NZCB, and by having a strategic presence, such as having our Director of Greater China, Mr Jeff Sun, based in Shanghai.”

The SJPC delegation to the Lincoln campus was represented by its President Cheng-Shu Chen, along with Deans, as well as NZCB Director Mrs Liz Ho and NZCB executive assistant Dr Kelly Chen.

They were welcomed by Lincoln University Group Manager, Corporate Services and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Mr Murray Dickson and viewed presentations from senior academic staff, Dr Ian MacDonald and Jack Radford, from the Faculty of Agribusiness and Commerce.

SPJC was founded in 1993 in the Baoshan District and has a student population of 5000.

Dr Yu says its qualifications are of an applied nature, and have commonalities with Lincoln's applied whole supply chain approach 'from farm to market'.

Picture: Lincoln University Group Manager, Corporate Services and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Mr Murray Dickson, left, and SJPC President Mr Cheng-Shu Chen exchange a gift.