The British Columbia Council for International Education (BCCIE) handed out its annual awards Friday afternoon and University Canada West (UCW) and its parent company Global University Systems (GUS) Canada walked away with two awards.

The awards were the culmination of the BCCIE annual Summer Conference, which ran June 21-25.

GUS Canada CEO Cyndi McLeod was honoured with the BCCIE International Education Lifetime Achievement Award.

This award recognizes the long-term contributions made and the far-reaching impacts realized over a career of commitment to British Columbia’s international education sector.

“I’m extremely honoured to be recognized by BCCIE and my colleagues across the province in receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award,” Cyndi said in accepting her award.

Throughout her 30-year career, Cyndi has been involved in many aspects of international education and held senior leadership roles at public and private institutions in the Canadian post-secondary education system.

“I’m grateful to have worked with many truly amazing teams from my days a Selkirk College, where I grew my passion for international education, to the University College of the Cariboo, which transformed to Thompson Rivers University, to Royal Roads University to co-founding Global Women in Education and finally joining the GUS family. Every one of these experiences has been a building block to where I am today. And I thank many of you for being part of it,” she said.

“I’ve been fortunate to have strong mentors along the way, presidents and boards that allowed me to take risks and teams that gave 150% to make it all happen,” Cyndi said. “All of these experiences have led me to this point in life. A point where I can proudly lead our GUS Canada team into a new era of innovation in education.”

University Canada West’s Marketing and Communications Department won the Excellence in International Education Marketing Award, which recognizes excellence and success in support of the education export sector in British Columbia and the marketing of the province’s world-class education system.

“On behalf of our entire UCW Marketing and Communications team, I would like to thank BCCIE for this great honour,” Midya U, UCW’s Director of Marketing and Communications, said in accepting the award. “We are so very proud and grateful to receive this award today.”

UCW’s Marketing and Communications team, which has grown to a complement of eight over the last year, handles all internal and external communications at the University, and works hand-in-hand with UCW’s recruitment teams to market UCW, British Columbia and Canada as a premier study destination to prospective students around the world.

“I also would like to thank our leadership, our president Brock Dykeman and our CEO Cyndi McLeod, for allowing us to be creative and for allowing us to aim high, and for welcoming change and innovation during a very turbulent time,” Midya said.

 

Published on June 25, 2021.