Universities Sign Cooperation Arrangement with Spain

A higher education cooperation arrangement to enhance the relationship between universities in New Zealand and Spain has been signed today by Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara and Spain’s Council of Universities Ministry of Education Culture and Sport.

The Memorandum on Cooperation in Higher Education provides a foundation to establish stronger linkages in a broad range of areas including information sharing, mutual recognition of qualifications, research collaboration, staff development, fellowship programmes and the exchange of students, academics and researchers.

The cooperation arrangement will also provide a framework for universities to develop academic programmes for joint degrees or double degrees at either graduate or postgraduate levels.

New Zealand’s eight universities all have extensive international activities, and the cooperation arrangement with Spain is an example of how our universities are contributing to the growth in international education, says Universities NZ Chair Professor Pat Walsh.

“International education includes a wide range of activities – not only are we focused on encouraging more international students to study in New Zealand, but we are working to boost educational exchange and collaboration to enhance the teaching, research and commercialisation activities of our university sector.”

Spain is one of the European Union’s emerging education markets for New Zealand and there are about 15 agreements between New Zealand universities and Spanish institutions.

“There is great potential for this relationship to grow and to enhance the breadth and quality of education for the mutual benefit of both our countries,” says Professor Walsh. “It also enables enduring people-to-people links that bolster understanding of each other’s cultures.”

The Memorandum on Cooperation in Higher Education, signed today by Professor Walsh and the Spanish Ambassador His Excellency Mr Jesus Miguel Sanz Escorihuela, is valid for five years.

It builds on a number of agreements which New Zealand universities have signed with EU countries, such as France and Germany.