NZTC celebrates five years of successful China partnerships

A New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC) collaboration has resulted in the training of hundreds of early childhood teachers working in Southeast China.

NZTC Chief Executive Selena Fox flew to China in June to celebrate the fourth cohort of graduates from the partnership between the Fujian Preschool Education College, the China Liberal Education Technology Development Company Limited and NZTC – bringing the total number of graduates to 337.

“This graduation celebrates five years of work together by three outstanding organisations. It is a symbol of the rich relationships that have navigated oceans, languages and cultures between New Zealand and China to come together because of our shared commitment to the education of teachers of young children – here in Fuzhou,” Chief Executive Selena Fox said.

Selena Fox with Huilin Xie

The 55 Certificate in Early Childhood Teaching (Level 6) graduates began their education in 2017 and are now eligible to complete a bachelor’s degree in China or with NZTC in New Zealand.

Four graduates were honoured with commendation awards. Jiangwen Wang, Huilin Xie and Ying Zhang received awards for Academic Excellence. Yifan Lai was bestowed the treasured NZTC Values Award acknowledging her commitment to each of the college values – Vision, Heart, Competence and Spirit.

Like New Zealand, China has a strong need for qualified early childhood teachers and NZTC’s English-based curriculum has put graduates in a strong position to find employment in local childcare centres and kindergartens.

“The college is very proud to have supported so many China-based ECE teachers to gain the knowledge and skills needed to nurture the next generation into confident lifelong learners,” Fox said.

“The strength of the cross-cultural relationships made between New Zealand and China in our shared commitment to the education of young children is built into who we are at NZTC and serves us well for each and every Chinese student who chooses to make New Zealand their study journey and home for a time.”

The quality of NZTC’s ECE programs was recognised by the Chinese government when it was added to the Chinese Ministry of Education recognised foreign institutions list in 2015.

NZTC’s commitment to China continues to grow with the number of students welcomed to the college increasing year-on-year.