New Zealand ropes in IIT Delhi for students' mobility initiatives

New Delhi : Demonstrating its overall commitment to India, New Zealand announced an investment of 400K NZ dollars towards internationalisation and student mobility initiatives. These include further engagement with the New Zealand Centre at IIT Delhi to include fellowship grants and the re-launch of the partial scholarships under the New Zealand Excellence Awards. Around 10 different projects are currently going on at the IIT Delhi's New Zealand centre.

The announcements were made at a roundtable session hosted at the New Zealand High Commission in the presence of David Pine, the New Zealand High Commissioner to India. Speaking about the several initiatives taken to strengthen the educational ties between India and New Zealand, Pine said, "New Zealand and India share a longstanding relationship that has been growing through various mutually beneficial initiatives.

"The New Zealand-India Education Week, allows us to lay our ear to the ground and hear the key stakeholders so that New Zealand can continue its varied partnership and collaboration in India's leading institutions."

According to Pine, over 3,000 visa applications from India have been approved recently by New Zealand and most of these applications came from students. Over 90 per cent visa applications seeking higher education opportunity in New Zealand have been approved, the official said. Education experts from New Zealand said that the educational ties between New Zealand and India are set to strengthen following one of Education New Zealand's biggest events of the year, the India-New Zealand Education Week.

It will encourage a dialogue on research while fostering innovation and cultural exchange and cooperation in the context of international education.

Also, the New Zealand Excellence Awards (NZEA) is a unique scholarship scheme designed exclusively for Indian students. The awards are jointly funded by Education New Zealand and all the eight New Zealand universities.