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Education links with Japan strengthened online

In a uniquely 2020 move, international education ties between New Zealand and Japan have been strengthened via an online ceremony held to mark the mutual commitment to post-COVID collaboration.

<p>Education New Zealand &lpar;ENZ&rpar; conducted a ceremony-via-screen with the Japanese Hokkaido Board of Education last week to celebrate an agreement to promote collaborative opportunities in education through shared interests&comma; including indigenous culture&comma; primary industries and rugby&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Continuing to build international government-to-government relationships with agreements such as this is a current focus of ENZ as part of the Government’s Recovery Plan for International Education&comma; which was released in July and backed by &dollar;51&period;6m COVID response spend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This Japanese agreement will facilitate student exchanges between high schools in New Zealand and Japan’s second largest island of Hokkaido&comma; as well as ensure an exchange of information on the human resources required to improve educational environments and teaching methodologies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>ENZ <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;new-chief-executive-for-education-council&sol;" title&equals;"chief executive" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">chief executive<&sol;a> Grant McPherson said he was delighted to take part in the ceremony&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>I am especially appreciative of how committed New Zealand and Japan both remain to building our education relationship given the exceptionally challenging year that we have had&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>McPherson said that as everyone adapts to a new environment amid the global pandemic&comma; it was important to think differently about the future being created&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It’s in this new context that we look forward to working together on our education cooperation arrangement&period; It is a significant milestone for Education New Zealand and one that will strengthen the partnership agreement between our governments&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The joint signing by McPherson and superintendent of the Hokkaido Board of Education&comma; Toshihiro Kodama&comma; was witnessed by New Zealand’s Ambassador to Japan&comma; Hamish Cooper&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>ENZ’s senior market manager for Japan&comma; Misa Kitaoka was online to facilitate and translate&period; She said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Despite the ongoing challenges of COVID&comma; this online signing still managed to convey a celebratory atmosphere with ENZ’s waiata and the Hokkaido students’ taiko performance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;While we wait for the border to reopen&comma; we look forward to starting with online activities connecting Hokkaido and New Zealand schools&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>ENZ has facilitated <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;developing-opportunities-at-school-with-a-view&sol;" title&equals;"opportunities" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">opportunities<&sol;a> for Hokkaido’s students for many years&comma; including providing dairy scholarships to farming students since 2014&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Heather Barker Vermeer

Heather has worked as a journalist, writer and editor in England and Aotearoa New Zealand for over 20 years. She fell in love with words when she received a 'Speak & Spell' tech toy for Christmas in 1984.

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