Private college to break ground soon

Soon to rise beside the Eucon International School is another institution for post-secondary education in the Northern Marianas, the Eucon International College, scheduled to break ground within the next month.

EIS president Dr. Christian Wei has unveiled plans to erect the college building alongside the present campus in Middle Road with an auditorium projected to accommodate over 600 people.

The 5,000-square foot facility is seen to hold 14 classrooms complete with a conference room, a resource center, and a multi-purpose room.

The new educational institution will be offering four-year college degrees to include Bachelor of Science in Business, Nursing, Christian Education, Counseling, Bachelor of Arts in Bible, to name few.

The college will be broken into four divisions namely the Division of Science, the Division of Education, the Division of Arts, and the Division of Bible.

Dr. Wei has long been pushing for action on the part of lawmakers to promote the establishment of more post-secondary institutions in the CNMI, particularly on the issue of bringing in foreign students to study on Saipan.

With the recent introduction of a legislation seeking to establish more post-secondary educational institution in the Commonwealth, Dr. Wei said the initiative would not only serve to benefit EIS but also the whole educational system in the CNMI.

In a letter to House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, he also said that accepting foreign students from preschool through post-secondary levels will help CNMI generate more revenues for the local government through tuition and fees and taxes.

“Australia benefited in 1998 from such policy . . . They earned $2 billion dollars that year through accepting foreign students to come to Australia to study,” he said.

In Shanghai, China, Dr. Wei added, the government is raking in revenues from the 13 private international schools for foreign students. On average, each foreign student pays about $20,000 in tuition and fees alone.
According to Dr. Wei, taxes generated from these schools represent 30 percent of the local government’s revenues.

Local leaders believe that while the Northern Marianas College, the lone high learning institution in the CNMI, is equipped to provide a variety of courses and programs, they underscored the need to diversify the quality of post-secondary education in order to take advantage of the potential market in the region. (MM)