International Student Exchanges: 100 Partners and Counting!
June 10, 2010
HEC Montréal’s international exchange program, the most extensive in Canada and one of the largest in North America, has added five destinations for the 2009-2010 year. That brings the number of partner institutions where HEC Montréal students can spend a term to 100.
The new partners are The University of Adelaide, in Adelaide, The University of Sydney (Faculty of Economics and Business) and The University of New South Wales, both in Sydney, along with The University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia, and National Chengchi University, in Taipei, Taiwan.
Especially popular destinations
HEC Montréal is now a partner of four Australian universities in the Group of Eight, comprising that country’s most prestigious universities. “The School is particularly proud of its agreements with these partners. They complement our first Australian partner, the Queensland University of Technology, which in fact holds the same three accreditations as HEC Montréal. These universities are in great demand as partners, since Australia is currently very popular with students from all over,” emphasized Jacqueline Lemay, who is in charge of the international exchange program.
Students’ interest in exchanges with Asian schools also remains high. The National Chengchi University rounds out our list of Asian partners, with 15 institutions in China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and now Taiwan.
Outside these regions, the School has 60 partners in Europe and 20 throughout the Americas. The international exchange program has seen tremendous growth in the past five years, increasing from 62 destinations to 100.
Keen interest on both sides
In 2009-2010, 342 students took advantage of the exchange program, the vast majority of them from the BBA program. About 350 students will be heading off to spend a term abroad in 2010-2011.
The number of exchange students from partner institutions at the School has doubled in the past five years, to 372. And 2009-2010 is the first year when the number of students coming here exceeds the number of HEC Montréal students going on exchanges. The presence of exchange students from 32 countries adds greatly to the diversity of the student body and clearly confirms the interest in HEC Montréal outside our borders.
Campus Abroad courses
In closing, note that BBA or MBA students who do not want to leave the country for a whole term can take specialized courses that include three weeks in another country, with the Campus Abroad formula. This gives them the opportunity to immerse themselves in the business culture of another land, depending on their level and year.