NSU to establish global learning center with CIBT

Northeastern State University and CIBT Education Group Inc., a Canada-based education management company, will establish a global learning center (GLC) on NSU's Broken Arrow campus, the company's first in the United States.

CIBT's global learning centers allow students in Asia to begin international studies in China, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines, then transfer accumulated credits to the GLC at NSUBA. By transferring to the center, a student from Asia can later enroll in a degree program at NSU. The GLCs are equipped with video conferencing capabilities which allow students to work live with professors and other students abroad.

NSU President Don Betz said the university was proud to partner with CIBT and house its first U.S.-based global learning center.

NSU and CIBT share a belief in the importance of access to education as a prerequisite for success in the global knowledge worker era," said Betz. "The GLC technology linked with NSUs programs and focus on student success will encourage CIBTs Asian students to complement their studies in their home countries with continuing studies at NSU in order to complete their degrees. This level of collaboration will create unique opportunities for students and for cross-cultural learning which will serve the students career and life-long learning interests.

The initiative with NSU is the latest example of CIBT's expansion plans for implementing its GLC model in North American non-profit state owned universities to facilitate a seamless educational bridge between CIBT's Asia operations and North American institutions.

NSU Provost Martin Tadlock said the agreement with CIBT underwent the same assessments as the university's other accords with educational providers.

"Agreements are reviewed by the academic colleges as they apply to programs in those colleges, then by academic affairs, the office of administration and finance and the president," said Tadlock. "Only the president has final authority to commit the university to an agreement such as the agreement with CIBT."

Tadlock said the GLC is expected to admit its first students with the Fall 2011 term.

"When students complete the program and pass the required tests, they are then eligible to apply for admission to any university in the U.S.," he said. "We will be one of those universities actively recruiting CIBT students into our programs."

CIBT has more than 20 GLCs operating in Asian countries and a broadcasting studio in Beijing, China from which courses are delivered to the centers. The company plans to expand its network of GLCs in China, elsewhere in Asia, the U.S and Canada.

"The establishment of our first North American based global learning center at Northeastern State University marks our first on-the-ground strategic location in the United States to which we can send our Asian students to the United States, and we are proud to be an academic partner with NSU", said Toby Chu, vice chairman, president and CEO of CIBT. "By creating this partnership, we foresee many other opportunities to also export NSU's wide variety of programs into CIBT's global learning centers in Asia."