agreement
25 January 2007
Top education officials from the Western Cape and the Shandong Province in
the People's Republic of China signed an agreement to co-operate on a range of
education projects today (Thursday, 25 January 2007).
Mr Ron Swartz, Head of Education in the Western Cape, and Mr Zhang Xingmin,
Deputy Director-General of the Shandong Provincial Education Department, signed
the agreement on behalf of their respective departments. The ceremony took
place at Rustenburg Girls' High School in Rondebosch.
Mr Zhang led a delegation of five senior officials from Shandong who toured
Garlandale Secondary School in Athlone and Rustenburg Girls prior to the
signing ceremony.
The agreement forms part of a broader agreement signed by Premier Ebrahim
Rasool on behalf of the Western Cape and Mr Han Yunqun, Governor of Shandong
Province, in July 2006. The agreement covers economic co-operation, trade,
investment, agriculture, fisheries, tourism, education, energy and medical
care.
Mr Swartz said the Memorandum on Enhancing Education Co-operation signed
yesterday is the first technical agreement flowing from the agreement signed
last year.
"The agreement will provide important opportunities for young people to
learn more about our respective cultures. We also hope to provide learning
opportunities for teachers."
Key features of the agreement on education include the following:
* During 2007, the two provinces will exchange between three to five interns
or young professional people to learn a language of the host country, namely
Chinese in China and English in the Western Cape. The training will take place
in universities in the two provinces.
* The Shandong Education Department will help to establish a Chinese Language
and Culture Centre at Stellenbosch University. The Western Cape Education
Department (WCED) will work with higher education institutions in the Western
Cape to establish a South African Culture Research Centre at a university in
Shandong, and will donate books and textbooks to the centre.
* The departments will encourage contact between youth of the two provinces,
given that youth represent their common future. Forms of contact could include
the internet and summer and winter camps, when conditions permit.
* Both departments will encourage book-importing agencies in their respective
provinces to import textbooks produced by the other country.
* Both departments agreed to exhibit their work in education in the main cities
of the two provinces, and to promote their respective cultures and
traditions.
* The two education departments agreed to establish further ways in which to
foster co-operation in primary, secondary and higher education, as well as
adult education and distance learning.
The Shandong delegation comprised Mr Zhang Xingmin; Mr Zhang Shijun,
Director, Shandong Provincial Education House; Mr Gao Lei, Deputy Director,
Personnel Division; Mr Wu Jianhua, Deputy Director, Administration; and Mr Sun
Zuxing, Deputy Director, Foreign Affairs, also of the Shandong Provincial
Education Department. Representatives of the Chinese Consulate General at the
ceremony were Mr Shi Weiqiang, Consul General, and Mr Cheng Jun, Consul
Attache.
For further information, please contact:
Paddy Attwell
Director: Communication
Western Cape Education Department
Tel: (021) 467 2531
Fax: (021) 461 3694
Cell: 083 261 7699
E-mail: pattwell@pgwc.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education, Western Cape Provincial Government
25 January 2007
