Global recognition for College partnership

City of Glasgow College has won the 2022 China-Scotland Business Award for Educational Partnership of the Year for its successful relationship with Zhejiang Technical Institute of Economics.

The Educational Partnership of the Year award recognises excellent examples of pioneering collaborations for the impact they have on the next generation of young people and cutting-edge research, as well as the wider Scotland-China business community.

Carla Gethin, Director for Business Partnerships at City of Glasgow College, said:

“We have a longstanding and trusted relationship with Zhejiang Technical Institute of Economics, so we are delighted to have won this particular award alongside them. Over 200 students so far have graduated with a Certificate in Supply Chain and Logistics as a direct result of this successful partnership.  

“The last two years have been challenging for the delivery of this project due to the global pandemic and travel restrictions.  This threatened the project deliverables; however, we have worked in partnership to creatively develop and deliver an online learning experience to meet our partner and learner expectations which has been pivotal in the ongoing success of our partnership and our projects.”

Roy Gardner, Vice Principal for Corporate Development and Innovation at City of Glasgow College, added:

“Winning this prestigious award is a resounding endorsement of the continual hard work and commitment from Carla and her team. Our College is very proud of our international partnerships and the benefits they bring both to our students and staff, as well as economically.”

The ongoing pandemic has impacted travel between the two countries, with Ranjith Sankaranarayanan, the College’s Project Manager for International Programmes, delivering his classes at 3.30am (11.30am their time) to the Chinese students. As well as being taught supply chain and logistics, the students must also learn English.

“The classes and exams are all in English so the students have tutors to teach them the language,” explains Ranjith. “These students have not have grown up speaking English so they must work hard to get through the course, but we have high pass rates and the few who fail are able to re-sit the exams.

“Up to 98% of our students go on to secure employment. Zhejiang Technical Institute of Economics is based in Hangzhou, home to the headquarters for Alibaba, China’s Amazon, so it is the ideal area in which to teach supply chain and logistics.”

The annual China-Scotland Business Awards recognise and celebrate achievements in trade and investment between Scotland and China. The winners were announced at a special ceremony during the Chinese-Burns Supper on 9 March in Edinburgh.

The China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) is the UK’s national business network promoting trade and investment with China.

The college’s global reach extends to 104 overseas partners across 28 countries. International activities include educational collaborations and delivery of vocational and professional education training, such as ZJTIE, curriculum development projects, and bespoke training programmes.