Benefits seen in exchange proposal

Press, 19 April 1986, Page 8

Benefits seen in exchange proposal

An exchange system between New Zealand technical institutes and China has been suggested by the director of Christchurch Polytechnic, Mr John Hercus. Mr Hercus has just led a tour of China by technical institute staff and said he saw many areas where an exchange system could benefit either or both of the countries. Language teaching was one area where China needed help, he said, because of the upsurge in Western tourism during the last few years. They needed help with English and Japanese. New Zealanders could

also be very helpful in teaching them how to run the many new tourist hotels being built. Before an exchange scheme could operate, representatives of Chinese educational institutions would have to visit New Zealand to see what it had to offer, Mr Hercus said. He hoped such a visit would take place in October or November this year. He said any scheme would run on a national basis, with New Zealand’s 23 technical institutes making available a certain number of places each year. It would then be up to the Chinese authorities to determine who would come to New Zealand and what they would study. It was hoped that the Chinese would do the same in return. Mr Hercus said he would suggest such a scheme to the Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, next week.