On September 12, 37 China university administrators paid a visit to the Confucius Institute in Edmonton. Administrators from 37 different universities in China participated in the Global Academic Leadership Development (GALD) Program at University of Alberta. The administrators took courses from the U of A for 3 months before returning to China. The morning consisted of a presentation on the work at the Confucius Institute in Edmonton and the positive results from the past 11 years.
In the afternoon, the delegation visited Kildare School, one of six elementary Mandarin bilingual schools in Edmonton Public Schools. The delegation learned of the history of the bilingual program in Edmonton and had a opportunity to visit classrooms and meet with Kildare teachers.
In the past few years, the CIE has been supporting the GALD Program by providing a CIE day during which the participants of the program learn about the CIE, public education in Edmonton and the Chinese bilingual program in Edmonton Public Schools. The CIE will be hosting another GALD group in February, 2020.