Guiyang and New Zealand city to promote education cooperation

Guiyang city embraced a delegation from its sister city, Palmerston North city in New Zealand, to visit and participate in the China International Big Data Industry Expo on May 26, 2019, and advance educational exchanges and cooperation. 

Sun Zhiming, deputy mayor of Guiyang, held a talk with the delegation leader Tangi Utikere, deputy mayor of Palmerston North city, over the areas of education, science and technology, tourism, medium and high-end manufacturing, and trade. 

Gu Lihui, deputy secretary-general of the Guiyang Municipal Government; Lu Ming, supervisor of Guiyang Education Supervisor Office; and Liu Song, vice-president of the Guiyang People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, attended the meeting.

After the expo, Utikere led the China Affairs Representative Zhu He of IPU New Zealand Tertiary Institute to visit Guizhou University. They exchanged views on scientific research and personnel training and signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation. 

Utikere also led the education delegation of Palmerston North, including Xander Burns, deputy consul general of New Zealand in Chengdu; Ye Fangmin, senior education director of New Zealand Education International Promotion Bureau, to visit the Guiyang Education Bureau, and held discussion to promote the educational cooperation between the two cities. 

He also awarded an NZ$2,500 scholarship to Pan Jingyue, a student of Guiyang International Bilingual Academy, who won this summer school student scholarship through the interview, in a way to inspire Guiyang students to study in Palmerston North.

Palmerston North is the first international friendly city of Guiyang with a 27-year friendship dating back to 1992. Since 2015, their exchanges have become more often, frequently between the governments, education departments, and schools. 

According to the Letter of Intent on Cooperation in General Education, Professional Research, Expert Consultation and Vocational Training signed by the two parties, Massey University, Universal College of Learning, IPU New Zealand Tertiary Institute and other universities in Palmerston North have established collaboration with Guiyang University, Guiyang Vocational and Technical College, Guiyang Nursing Vocational College, Guiyang Preschool Education College and Guizhou University. 

Palmerston North also provides 25 Sister City Scholarships for Guiyang students with a total of NZ$250,000 (1.25 million yuan) to advance educational exchanges and cooperation. 

In addition, Heli Solutions and Alyoung Aviation Services and Consultancy have also signed relevant cooperation agreements with Guizhou Silver Eagle General Aviation Corp to expand the cooperation between the two cities to general aviation and other new areas.

The two cities will maintain close relations for the educational cooperation. Among others, they will facilitate the practice of Sister City Scholarship in hands with the Guiyang Education Bureau as soon as possible. The two sides will encourage the UCOL to appoint English language teachers for Guiyang's one undergraduate college and three technical colleges.

Other efforts will include joining hands with the Guiyang Education Bureau to further the sister school relationship between the relevant schools in Guiyang and the primary and secondary schools in Palmerston North, and encouraging universities in both places to set up "3 +1" or "2 +2" joint training programs.

Tangi Utikere, deputy mayor of Palmerston North city, (center left) talks with Sun Zhiming, deputy mayor of Guiyang, at the sideline of China International Big Data Industry Expo on May 26, 2019. [Photo provided to english.guiyang.gov.cn]