A few days ahead of Prime Minister Chris Hipkins leading a 29-strong business delegation to China, visiting Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, a delegation from a Chinese university visited Massey University to discuss further collaboration between the two institutions, including the potential for a joint centre on horticultural crop stress resistance.
The delegation was from Northeast Agricultural University (NEAU), a high-ranking agricultural university in China specialising in agricultural science.
Massey’s current collaborative agreement with NEAU is for the Master of Science (Horticultural Science), which was signed in January 2019.
The Head of Massey University’s School of Agriculture and Environment, Professor Paul Kenyon, says the visit provided the opportunity to exchange and share language, stories and culture with NEAU representatives, and discuss further opportunities for collaboration.
“Massey is looking forward to growing its relationship with NEAU in Masters education in horticulture and extending this to research and potentially agriculture,” he said.
“Our two universities have very similar interests and expertise and are therefore natural partners.”
Massey teamed up with NEAU last year to organise the inaugural China-New Zealand Joint Symposium in Horticulture, where research into the science and art of growing plants was shared by staff and postgraduate students.
More than 50 academic staff, postgraduate students and industry representatives from China, the United States and New Zealand spoke at the online symposium in an effort to understand each other’s strengths and find common research interests to influence and lead innovation in the horticultural industry.
During NEAU’s recent visit to the Manawatū campus, discussions were held about the second China-New Zealand international symposium, which is scheduled to be held in January 2024.
Massey University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas says it was great to see the two institutions build on the success of the inaugural event in 2022, which saw more than 4200 views of the livestream over two days.
“Both Massey and NEAU are committed to building platforms for young researchers to showcase their work and provide them with opportunities to develop connections,” she said.
“There is also a significant commitment from faculty at both institutions to develop bilingual teaching programmes and research experiences for students as they seek to produce graduates who care about the communities they serve, both locally and globally.”
During their visit, NEAU representatives toured Massey’s facilities including student accommodation, laboratories and the AgHort building.
Source: Massey University
