EU-New Zealand Cooperation in Higher Education and Vocational Training
New Zealand and the EU embarked on an initiative in the field of education and training in the form of a pilot project in 2004 which involved four universities from the EU and three universities from New Zealand. When the Commissioner for Education and Training, Jan Figel', met with New Zealand's Deputy Prime Minister, Michael Cullen, in September 2006, there was agreement that future educational cooperation should take place within a wider, multilateral framework. In addition, the EU-NZ Joint Declaration on relationships and co-operation of 21 September 2007 gave a prominent place to education and professional exchanges as well as people-to-people links. Accordingly, New Zealand featured in the 2008 multi-country call for project proposals along with other industrialised countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The overarching objectives behind cooperation with New Zealand are two-fold. Actions should both:
- Promote mutual understanding between the peoples of the European Union and New Zealand including providing for a broader knowledge of their languages, cultures and institutions and
- Improve the quality of human resource development to equip the citizens with the skills required in a global knowledge-based economy.
At present, a number of Erasmus-like, curriculum development and student mobility projects are envisaged between the EU and New Zealand. This type of project involves the formation of consortia comprising at least three higher education institutions from the EU and two from New Zealand. In this framework, students and faculty have the opportunity to spend typically one semester of mobility abroad in the EU or in the partner. Whilst these stays abroad do not lead to the awarding of joint or dual degrees to students, full accreditation is given by the home university for time spent abroad.
The last call for proposals took place in 2008 and resulted in the selection of one successful EU-New Zealand project focussing on the subject of climate change. So far a total of 2 joint projects have been supported involving 12 European and New Zealand institutions and over 150 student exchanges.
