Hon Pete Hodgson
Minister for Tertiary Education

7 October 2008 Media Release
NZ students to work on climate change study in Europe

New Zealand engineering students will have the opportunity to study climate change in Europe through a new student exchange programme, Tertiary Education Minister Pete Hodgson announced today.

The New Zealand government is providing over $500,000 over four years for the programme. The European Commission will contribute a similar amount of funding.

The programme will focus on developing better technology to monitor the parameters of climate change such as temperature, gas concentration and water quality. Five universities from four countries will be involved in the programme.

“The exchange programme will strengthen existing tertiary education links between New Zealand and Europe,” Pete Hodgson said.

“It is a rare opportunity for students to work with internationally recognised researchers across New Zealand and Europe and build their environmental monitoring skills.

“New Zealand students will emerge with a better understanding of the issues surrounding climate change. This knowledge will place them in a strong position to contribute to the ongoing international debate in this area,” he said.

In New Zealand the programme will be led by Massey University in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington. Both universities will work with the lead European university - the University of Limerick in Ireland - and its partner institutions - Universität Rostock in Germany and City University in the United Kingdom.

The exchange programme will support up to 30 New Zealand and 30 European students to study abroad for between five and 10 months. It is expected the exchanges will begin in 2009.

The European Union has similar programmes with the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and Korea.

ENDS

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