Higher Education Co-operation Agreement Signed

An agreement on co-operation in higher education between China and New Zealand was signed in Wellington today by representatives of the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE) and the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (NZVCC).

Areas covered by the agreement are information sharing, staff and student exchanges, qualification recognition, staff development, researcher exchange, university management and academic exchange. 

It will be implemented by a joint working group which has already been established by the parties which have worked together in the past to stage two higher education forums involving university representatives from both countries.  A third such event is now planned to coincide with Shanghai Expo 2010.

The agreement was signed by Mr Lin Zuoping, Deputy Secretary-General for CEAIE and Professor Roger Field, chair of the NZVCC which represents the interests of the country’s eight universities.

“New Zealand universities have long played their part in strengthening this country’s relationships with China, through their bilateral agreements for staff and student exchange with universities in China, through co-operative research projects in fields as diverse as geology and modern literature, and by applying their scholarship to enhance New Zealanders’ understanding of China,” Professor Field told those attending the signing ceremony.

“The agreement on co-operation that the NZVCC and CEAIE have entered into today provides the foundation on which we will build further joint ventures for the benefit of both countries and their universities.”