Employees at Oregon-based IT company CollegeNET now have the opportunity to learn more about China and study Mandarin at the Confucius Institute at Portland State University.

"China has become one of the major markets for our company," says Jim Wolfston, president of CollegeNET. "I think our employees need to get a better understanding of China by learning Chinese."

Forty-two employees signed up for the 10-week Mandarin language course offered by the Confucius Institute, with classes held three times a week.

"Our employees are very busy during work. It is difficult for them to find time to attend a language class at the college," Wolfston says. "CIPSU agreed to provide on-site training with an instructor that travels to our company for a specified period of time, that's huge for us. We are very grateful."

CollegeNET, which develops Web-based systems for higher education and nonprofit organizations, including Stanford and Princeton, has been focusing heavily on the Chinese market because of the growing number of Chinese students in the US.

"One of our major businesses is the online application process. For instance, if a student decided to apply to Cornell graduate school, we are the ones who manage and process the forms and data on the university's behalf," Wolfston says. "As China continues to be the top source of international students on US campuses, more and more of the applications we process come from China."