Quality education destination

Posted by on 3 September 2011 | 0 Comments

Southland is a a quality education destination - that is the message the rest of the world is hearing and is the message we are receiving from those in the know.

Education Southland participating schools have pulled off a second international business relationship opportunity with a school in Thailand in the last 12 months. It was in August 2010 that Venture Southland was able to confirm the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Srinakharinwirot University Prasarmnit Demonstration Secondary School (SUPDS) located in Bangkok, Thailand.

Now in August 2011 participating schools - Central Southland College, Fiordland College, James Hargest College, Southland Boys' High School, Southland Girls' High School, St Peter's College and Waihopai School - have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with The Prince Royal's College (PRC) from Chiang Mai, Thailand.

This week a delegation of six representatives from The Prince Royal's College was hosted by Venture Southland. The delegation of PRC school representatives took the opportunity to visit and see the Southland schools working first hand. This culminated in the participating schools signing an agreement with PRC on Tuesday evening.

The agreement allows for PRC to have up to 16 international fee paying students per year enrol at the Southland schools. As well as this a Short Stay Study and Cultural Programme has been entered in to whereby the Southland schools will host larger groups of PRC students for a two week period in March/April 2012.

The deal was facilitated by Venture Southland and A&T New Zealand Education Agency from Chiang Mai - following initial communications last year.

While in Southland the PRC delegation was not only impressed by the schools visited, but also many of the Southland visitor attractions including Milford Sound, the Southland lifestyle on offer and enjoyed some retail therapy supporting our local stores.

Education Southland is an international student recruitment marketing initiative. It was established to coordinate a collective approach to market Southland as a quality education destination to the rest of the world. It is a great example of Venture Southland supporting our region's economic and community development by working alongside the education sector.

At the civic reception held recently 100+ students attended from more than 20 countries. We heard from students from Sweden, Finland, Germany, Thailand and Hong Kong. What was most reassuring to me was the positive messages about the experiences from these students - safe, friendly communities that care for each other; hospitality and friendships which will last a lifetime; and while it can be cold it is nowhere as cold as some parts of the world these students come from.

What was most intriguing to me was the message from the young man from Hong Kong who attends James Hargest College. He mentioned that by the time his extended family have all been educated - 8 in total including cousins - they all will have been educated in Southland - not a bad advertisement for repeat business coming about because of quality and good service. As well as this number of students from one family residing in Southland over a period of time - when they are here they are visited by parents and grandparents and extended family members - adults visiting Southland who otherwise would not come here. Not a bad return on the investment for our region from the hard work done by schools and Venture Southland.

What is also a friendly reminder is that these visitors are coming to one of the most beautiful and caring places on earth. We must work hard to retain this image for Southland. These students are great ambassadors for our region - and remain so once they leave to further their lot somewhere else in the world. They take away great memories and experiences and value the great opportunities that otherwise may be lost on them in a busy and complex world if they were absorbed in some of the larger international cities. This fact was not lost on the young people I was able to talk with.

This latest international alliance for our Southland schools is also great news for the Southland District Council Friendship Committee - and adds considerable momentum to the SDC Friendship Committee developing its relationship with the Chiang Main Municipality. The SDC Friendship Committee has previously identified an opportunity to link with the significant groundwork done by Venture Southland and Education Southland participating schools to advance this relationship with Chiang Mai - especially with regard to youth development, environment, tourism, global citizenship and obviously education. This has been given a great boost with this alliance confirmed with PRC in Chiang Mai.

Seeing so many young people from all over the world in one place at the International Student Civic Reception not only made me and my fellow Mayors feel very proud to be Southlanders - it certainly reinforced the fact that Southland is becoming a truly global community.