Thomas Yang – UC's man in Beijing

The University of Canterbury (UC) has a new China programme officer, based in the well-known trendy Jian Wai SOHO district of Beijing, to increase the number of Chinese students studying in UC next year.

The new Chinese representative, Thomas Yang, has had a lot of experience in international education and is working full time exclusively to recruit UC students for Christchurch.

Yang managed the New Zealand department of an international education agency for more than 10 years.  He has also studied abroad, most recently in Canada, where he earned his law degree in Montreal. He has already visited the UC campus.

``With his dedication to helping students reach their educational goals and an in-depth knowledge of the education industry and student visa process for New Zealand, he is the perfect person to represent UC in China,’’ UC’s international relationships office head Bob Korzeniowski said today.

``Yang manages a broad range of duties for UC, mainly with a focus on meeting directly with students and parents to ensure that they have up-to-date and accurate information regarding the courses and programmes offered here.

``He is in constant contact with our partners in China, including our preferred agencies, sister-city high schools and Chinese universities that UC has signed memoranda of understanding with.’’

Yang is currently playing a key role in assisting students with their applications and liaising with Immigration New Zealand to help when additional documents or clarification is needed for processing visa applications.

Regular messages and Skype calls ensured that Yang was in close connection with the rest of the UC international team as well as UC admissions.

Since starting in June this year, Yang has already played a major role in a campaign with UC’s partner high schools in Wuhan by giving in-school presentations to students and parents and assisting this year’s scholarship recipients with all their pre-departure questions and formalities.

About a dozen students recently arrived to begin their foundation studies.  Yang has now turned his attention to the February 2013 intake and will be extremely busy over the next few months as he travels to a series of events in strategically targeted cities and regions in China, to ensure UC recruits the top students from China.