Northern Institute of Technology delegation visits Shanghai campus

Summary

A delegation from New Zealand's Northern Institute of Technology, led by President Derek Slatter and including Vice-President Dominique Hayward and Director of International Affairs Tan Xueqin, visited the Fengxian campus of a Shanghai university on the morning of 20 October 2026. President Zhang Zhengrong, Director of International Exchange Yu Limin, Director of Human Resources Xu Jinxian, Dean of the School of Food and Tourism Zhang Yunbin, Party Secretary of the School of Artificial Intelligence Applications Wang Xiaoyin, Deputy Dean of the School of Health and Social Care Shi Lei and related staff attended the talks, which were chaired by Deputy Director of International Exchange Wang Aihua. Zhang noted the long history of education exchanges between China and New Zealand, saying the Northern Institute of Technology is a highly influential public vocational institution in the northern North Island and that the two sides have many aligned specialties and broad scope for co-operation.

Slatter thanked the university for its warm reception and praised its achievements in vocational education. Yu Limin and Tan Xueqin then presented overviews of their respective institutions, programme offerings and international exchange activities. The two sides held in-depth discussions on practical co-operation in Sino-foreign joint programmes and top-up degree pathways, reaching preliminary consensus on plans to select relevant specialties to create customised China-New Zealand co-operation classes and steadily advance the implementation of co-operation projects.

Before the talks, Slatter and his delegation toured practical training facilities including the virtual simulation training centre at the School of Health and Social Care, and gave full recognition to the university's modern practical teaching environment.

Commentary

The visit by Northern Institute of Technology, focused on joint programmes and top-up degree pathways, reflects continued engagement by New Zealand vocational education providers with the China market. As a major public institute of technology in the northern North Island, it has strengths in applied disciplines such as health care and food technology, while Chinese vocational colleges have developed distinctive capabilities in hardware investment such as virtual simulation training, allowing the two sides to complement each other's resources. For NZ SMEs, such education co-operation, while not direct trade, could drive subsequent demand for technical standards, course certification and local training, particularly in areas of New Zealand skills shortage such as aged care and food processing.

At the same time, Chinese vocational education is accelerating its internationalisation, and New Zealand institutions that remain at the student recruitment level may struggle to sustain momentum; they need to embed industry needs into joint curricula, for example by aligning with China's aged care sector or food export compliance training. If Northern Institute of Technology's customised class model succeeds, it could offer other institutes of technology a replicable asset-light co-operation path, though the risk of policy volatility from over-reliance on a single market should be guarded against.

Keywords: Northern Institute of Technology, Sino-foreign joint programmes, top-up degree pathways, vocational education, China-New Zealand education exchange, customised classes, Fengxian campus, Derek Slatter

Source: Shanghai Urban Construction Vocational College