China – NZ TVET relationship strengthened

The Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment, Steven Joyce, opened the event on behalf of the New Zealand government. The symposium was embedded within the International Forum on Vocational Education at the China Annual Conference for International Education, 2015 (CACIE 2015) where New Zealand featured as the country of honour for 2015. This was an achievement secured by ENZ’s China Team and underpins its strong relationship with organising body, the China Education Association for International Exchange.

The symposium was part of three days of activities that included a joint universities’ alumni event for New Zealand students; a business to business session between New Zealand ITPs and their Chinese counterparts; the CACIE gala dinner, featuring an opening speech by Minister Joyce; the 4th New Zealand – China Higher Education Forum; the opening of the New Zealand Country of Honour Pavilion at the China Education Exhibition (also a part of CACIE) and the full-day symposium itself, on 24 October. Representatives from the Chinese Ministry of Education, the China Education Association for International Exchange and senior representatives from Chinese vocational institutions worked closely with the New Zealand representatives over the three days.

The symposium featured sessions from New Zealand and Chinese speakers on topics including: the reform of TVET in China, student centric approaches to teaching, producing work ready graduates and a roundtable session on the opportunities and challenges of joint programme development between China and New Zealand. The Chief Executives of Unitec, Wintec and Waiariki Institute of Technology, the Director of Business Development and Partnerships at WelTec and the National Director for Ako Aotearoa were among the impressive array of speakers.

The symposium was preceded on 23 October by a session with New Zealand ITPs and over ten Chinese counterparts in a business to business activity to match institutions with potential partners. The opportunity provided by the symposium and the business to business session allowed for new relationships and agreements to be formed and an affirmation of existing relationships.

The Beijing Symposium will be followed by the China – NZ Modern Vocational Education Development Forum to be held at Wintec on 25 and 26 November.  The Hamilton forum will discuss how our institutions can satisfy the Chinese and New Zealand authorities that their transnational education programmes meet appropriate quality standards. They will also explore the issue of how to accelerate the development and approval of such programmes.