University Representatives Visit China to Recruit GAC Graduates

Representatives from 11 Pathway Universities in Australia, Canada, and the United States recently completed the second annual tour of Global Assessment Certificate (GAC) Approved Teaching Centers (ATCs) in China.

Scott E. King (center), director, Office of International Students and Scholars at The University of Iowa, interviews a prospective student (with his father) while other prospective students listen in at the Changsha Foreign Language School GAC Center, the second stop on the tour. Sitting next to King is a Changsha student who served as translator. More than 120 prospective students and their parents participated in the event at Changsha.

Pathway Universities are schools that accept GAC graduates and provide credit toward their undergraduate degree programs. They also offer scholarship opportunities. There currently are more than 100 Pathway Universities in Australia, Canada, Fiji, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Representatives from the following colleges and universities participated in the tour: Bond University, Curtin University of Technology, La Trobe University, Monash University, RMIT University, University of Newcastle, and University of South Australia, all in Australia; Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada; and Rowan University, Saint Mary’s College of California, and The University of Iowa in the United States.

The tour ran from February 23 to March 10 and included ATCs at Zhejiang University (Hangzhou), Changsha Foreign Language School (Changsha), China Henan International College for Education Exchanges, CornerStone Center and Zhengzhou ESLI (both in Zhengzhou), Shude Middle School (Chengdu), Jiangsu College for International Education (Nanjing), and Qingdao University (Qingdao).

Andrew Todd, country manager of the ACT Education Solutions Limited office in China, said the tour is an annual event designed to help new ATCs become established. Organizers may schedule the tour twice a year if it proves successful in recruiting students to the GAC and GAC graduates to Pathway Universities.

The tour of each site included a mini-education expo complete with booths and presentations from each institution. Participants included current and prospective GAC students, parents, and other interested parties. Pathway University representatives also met with ATC staff to learn more about their admission processes. ATC staff served as translators at the events.

The purposes of the tour were to:

• Provide Pathway Universities with an opportunity to promote their schools and to recruit GAC graduates.
• Introduce Pathway Universities to ATC staff members so they can continue to promote attendance at Pathway Universities.
• Raise the public profiles of both Pathway Universities and the ATCs.
• Support ATCs in their ongoing recruitment activities.
• Enhance the reputation and appeal of the GAC in China through media coverage.

“The tour provides an excellent opportunity for universities to showcase their institutions and to reinforce to students, parents, and schools the benefits of studying the GAC,” said Todd.

The GAC is the world’s most recognized university preparation program for students who want to study overseas. Upon successful completion of the GAC, students can apply to any of the Pathway Universities, subject to meeting their individual requirements. Each university has different entry criteria for GAC graduates, including English language ability and academic performance.

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