HCM City wants stronger cooperation with Education New Zealand

Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem (R) and Chief Executive of ENZ Grant McPherson (Photo: hcmcpv.org.vn)

He made the statement while hosting Grant McPherson, Chief Executive of ENZ, the New Zealand government agency for building international education, in the city.

At the meeting, Liem said the Vietnam – New Zealand ties are growing fruitfully in many spheres, particularly education and training. The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the municipal Department of Education and Training and the ENZ in January was an important event, creating favorable conditions for the sides’ effective engagements in the coming time.

The official expressed his delight at New Zealand’s granting of scholarships to Vietnamese high school students, saying it reflects the host country’s goodwill and opportunities for local youths to access its world top quality education. 

HCM City values New Zealand’s assistance for its human capacity improvement, he said, hoping for further support to come in the field, particularly human resources training serving its smart city development, as well as in the exchange of educational experience. 

Liem took the occasion to offer his condolences to the New Zealand Government and people, especially families of the victims of mass shootings at local Muslim mosques last Friday.

McPherson affirmed the March 15 terrorist attack in Christchurch cannot change the fact that New Zealand is a safe and peaceful country. New Zealand will spare no efforts to protect such values to ensure safety for foreign students, he added.

Praising HCM City authorities’ interest in boosting education and training cooperation with New Zealand, he said he hopes more support will come from the city in making the ties more effective.

He unveiled that his country is seeking methods for the exchange of ideas with the Vietnamese side on boosting educational collaboration in terms of artificial intelligence, suggesting the work could be done initially via the signing of cooperation pacts between the two nations’ localities.   

The official stressed the ENZ wants to effectively implement contents of the January MoU, particularly programmes on capacity training for HCM City’s public personnel, teachers and students; as well as on boosting human resources competency of Vietnamese and New Zealand sectors and educational facilities.