Tertiary Education Minister Pete Hodgson recently announced that the government will be providing $600,000 in funding over four years for a new exchange programme between New Zealand and the European Union.

The programme will support academic and student exchanges of up to 30 New Zealanders and 30 Europeans to study abroad for between five and 10 months. It will be administered by the Tertiary Education Commission and is expected to begin in 2009.

“This initiative provides an opportunity to strengthen ties [that New Zealand universities have with European universities] and supports New Zealand students to study at top quality institutions in Europe, experience other cultures and bring home valuable international knowledge,” Hodgson says.

The European Commission will contribute an amount of funding similar to that provided by the Government.

The new programme follows a pilot exchange launched in 2004, which involved students from Canterbury University, Waikato University and the Wanganui School of Design working in Austria, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.

Proposals from New Zealand tertiary education organisation are being accepted until June 6.