NMC is currently hosting a visit from six Chinese college administrators as part of the American Association of Community Colleges/Chinese Education Association for International Exchange (AACC/CEAIE)’s VELT program. VELT stands for Vocational Education Leadership Training, and the seven visitors are:
- Nianyou Chen, President, Huanggang Polytechnic College
- Aimin Zhang, Chair of College Council, ZiBo Vocational Institute
- Guoji Liu, President, Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute
- Wangyun Li, Vice President, Wuhan Polytechnic
- YunXia Li, Vice President, Yunnan Jiaotong College
- Wei Liu, Program Coordinator/Translator, Guangzhou Panyu Polytechnic
VELT delegate YunXia Li, Vice President of Yunnan Jiaotong College, presents NMC president Timothy J. Nelson with a gift from her school.
Their stay in Traverse City began on Sunday evening when they arrived at Cherry Capital Airport after getting one of the final flights out of New York City before hurricane Sandy made landfall. The group began their United States visit with stops in Washington, DC and New York.
Their visit at NMC will run through Friday, November 9. While here they will meet with college administrators, faculty, staff and students, Board of Trustees members, members of the NMC Foundation board, representatives from TCAPS, the Traverse City Chamber of Commerce, visit the Dennos Museum, tour all four NMC campuses and get a taste of the sights and sounds Traverse City and the surrounding area has to offer.
The mission of the VELT program is to enhance the leadership of higher vocational colleges in China by providing opportunities for the leaders to absorb new concepts and witness diverse practices in vocational education and training from other countries, to make innovation in light of practical needs of Chinese higher vocational colleges and to explore effective international cooperation. This program has sent 125 leaders to the US, Germany and Australia.