A small NSCC Delegation participated in an education mission to partner institutions in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.Jim Bate, Dean School of Business (Acting), Ted Grant, Academic Chair School of Business and Zoran Kondali, NSCC International visited a total of five local universities and institutes over two weeks in March 2014.

This mission is a follow-up activity to a Government of Canada mission to Nova Scotia of representatives from Latin American universities and institutes.During this October 2012 visit initial contact was established with a number of institutions in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.A small team from NSCC travelled to these three countries in March 2013 to further strengthen the partnership linkages, and to discuss mutually beneficial opportunities.

As a result of this mission, NSCC applied and received approval from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development for one-semester scholarships under the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP) for 6 students from Colombia and Peru.These students came to NSCC during the 2013/14 academic year from the following institutions: Colegio de Estudios Superiores de Administracion (CESA) in Bogota, Colombia, Universidad San Ignacio de Loyola (USIL) in Lima, Peru and Instituto del Sur (ISUR) in Arequipa, Peru.

The March 2014 mission included visits to these three institutions as well as to two additional local partners in Ecuador – Universidad Espiritu Santu (UEES) and Universidad Ecotec.The purpose of this mission was to strengthen linkages with our local partners in the region, as well as to explore short-term and semester length international learning opportunities for NSCC students, faculty and staff.A number of mutually beneficial activities have been identified and the team is currently finalizing the details for some exciting new initiatives.

Zoran Kondali

Manager, NSCC International