There's not much change in this year's enrollment at Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna.

The private school has registered about 65 students for this fall, which is similar to last year at this time, but well below the number they were projecting, according to MCI principal Gerald Barkman.

"We were hoping to get about 75 to 80 students, so we're a little under what we had projected for this year. We are kind of sad that we lost four of our Chinese students because they were not able to get their student visas from the Chinese government, so they have not been able to join us."

Barkman feels the recent political tension between China and Canada appears to have prevented some of their Chinese students from joining them this year. He says this has not been an issue for these students in the past.

Nonetheless, MCI continues to move forward with its recruitment plan, part of which includes drawing more foreign students to the school. MCI has recruitment teams working in China, South Korea, India, and Hong Kong.

"We'd love to fill the dorm up and get more international students to move in ... and the push is on. We realize MCI just cannot continue flourishing if we're having 65 kids, so we'd love to get our numbers back up towards the 100 mark, or better, and we're really hoping and praying the Lord will continue to send the students our way."

Barkman believes MCI has a real niche in Manitoba's educational system and that there are a lot of parents who want their children to be exposed to the Christian academic, musical and sports experience the school can offer.