20 August 2013 at 9:00 am
Education in the spotlight during Governor-General’s visit to Viet Nam
New Zealand’s Governor-General, Lt Gen The Rt Hon Sir Jerry Mateparae, accompanied by Lady Janine Mateparae, paid a State visit to Viet Nam from 3−8 August 2013 and education was in the spotlight.
Sir Jerry Mateparae attended two major education events during this visit. In Hanoi the New Zealand Embassy and ENZ hosted a “New Zealand Education Connections” event, which for the first time ever in Viet Nam, brought together New Zealand alumni from different parts of the Vietnamese economy and society.
About 250 private students, NZ Aid scholarship recipients and recipients of English Language Teaching for Officials (ELTO) were represented at the event. New Zealand teachers in Viet Nam were also well represented.
The Governor-General spoke about the value of education as a bridge builder for long term relationships and connections between the two countries. In all of his meetings with senior Vietnamese leaders and officials stronger education collaboration was emphasised as a key priority for New Zealand’s relationship with Viet Nam.
In Ho Chi Minh City (which accounts for about 60 percent of all Vietnamese students to New Zealand), Sir Jerry Mateparae delivered an address to 170 students, staff and senior Vietnamese officials at the University of Science, which is part of the Vietnamese National University. The University has nine faculties with around 652 professors and more than 16,000 students.
Auckland University of Technology has a joint programme with the University of Science, delivering a Bachelor of Computer and Information Sciences (BCIS). There are 130 students enrolled in the programme, in addition to the 250 graduates of this programme.
At this event, the Governor-General spoke about the importance of partnerships in education, not only between governments, but also between New Zealand and Vietnamese institutions. Senior officials present expressed the hope that in future there would be more New Zealand and Vietnamese universities engaged in the kind of collaboration demonstrated by AUT and the University of Science, Ho Chi Minh City.Both events attracted plenty of media attention, and helped to raise the profile of New Zealand as an education partner for Viet Nam in advance of the New Zealand education fairs taking place in September.
