Fund boosts sister school ties with China

Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce today announced that 25 schools across New Zealand will each receive up to $2,500 to build sister school relationships with China.

“The China-New Zealand Sister School Fund enables schools to support staff or student exchanges, curriculum-based collaborative projects, and to offer enhanced Chinese language programmes with New Zealand’s largest trading partner,” Mr Joyce says.

“Through initiatives like this and the Prime Minister’s Scholarships to Asia, we’re giving Kiwi students the opportunity to develop skills for an Asia-Pacific-centred world.” 

Marlborough Girls’ College and Marlborough Boys’ College received funding of $5000 to develop a sister school partnership in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, one of China’s leading wine-producing regions. The colleges are also working with the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology to encourage Chinese student enrolments into courses relevant to New Zealand’s wine industry.

Following the district council’s signing of a sister city agreement with Haikou in 2014, Whangarei Intermediate School, Whangarei Girls’ High School, and Whangarei Boys’ High School have received $5,000 to develop sister school relationships. The schools are also collaborating with NorthTec, which has an existing relationship with Haikou Vocational Tourism School and Haikou College of Economics.

The China-New Zealand Sister School Fund has a total of $50,000 in funding available to schools, and was announced during President Xi Jinping’s visit to New Zealand in November 2014.

The list of recipients is available here: http://enz.govt.nz/our-services/business-development/tools-for-schools/new-zealand-china-sister-schools-fund