Huai Jinpeng will visit Wellington and Christchurch, as well as New Zealand’s flagship New Zealand International Education Conference Ki Tua. China will be this year’s country of honour at the event.

“Education is one of the key pillars of the New Zealand-China relationship and a foundation for enduring links between our countries,” New Zealand’s education minister Jan Tinetti said in a statement.

Tinetti will meet with Jinpeng to discuss “ongoing opportunities” in the countries’ education relationship.

As the largest source country of international students for New Zealand – with almost 12,000 currently studying in the country – the visit “is a great chance for us to share stories about everything studying with New Zealand has to offer”, the NZ minister said.

“Education is one of the key pillars of the New Zealand-China relationship”

“I am pleased that minister Huai will have the opportunity during his visit, and attendance at our international education conference, to engage with a range of senior government officials, sector representatives, academics and students,” Tinetti said.

During the visit, an Education Cooperation Arrangement between Education New Zealand and China Education Association for International Exchange is planned to be signed at the 11th Joint Working Group on Education and Training.

At previous working group meetings, agreements on qualification recognition and information sharing were made. The new arrangement will support greater education exchange and collaboration between the education sectors of New Zealand and China, according to the NZ government.

Earlier this year, Tinetti revealed that two of eight group scholarships for Asia 2023/2024 under the Prime Minister’s Scholarship program would go to China.

Funding will support a six-week Ropu Māori Cultural and Business Exchange in China, while a six-week entrepreneurship and innovation program for students at vocational provider Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology will see them travel to Jinhua Polytechnic in China.

In June, NZ prime minister Chris Hipkins met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on a trip to the country.

Along with collaborating to ensure the success of an upgraded China-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, the two leaders agreed to strengthen people-to-people and cultural exchanges and cooperation in several fields including education, science and technology.

On his return to New Zealand, Hipkins said that it was “important” to reaffirm the economic connections the country has with China –  a trading relationship is worth over $40 billion annually.

“Tourism between our countries was high on the agenda, with air connectivity beginning to return to pre-pandemic levels, we are seeing the return of businesspeople, students and tourists helping to boost our economic recovery,” Hipkins said.

“With borders now open our service exports, like tourism and international education, are recovering.”

Tinetti added that Hipkins’s visit to China “underlined the importance of the education relationship, which is built on student exchange, academic and research collaboration and high-level policy dialogue”.

“I am delighted that minister Huai is here so soon after the Prime Minister’s visit,” Tinetti said.

“This visit provides an opportunity for further reconnection and the fostering of people-to-people links between our two countries.”