Agenda of International Advisory Group

CG-14-10-00039 1

COAT-ARM Hastings District Council

Civic Administration Building

Lyndon Road East, Hastings 4156

Phone: (06) 871 5000

Fax: (06) 871 5100

www.hastingsdc.govt.nz

M I N U T E S

International Advisory Group

Meeting Date:

Wednesday, 12 September 2018

Minutes of a Meeting of the International Advisory Group held on

Wednesday, 12 September 2018 at 3.00pm

Table of Contents

Item Page No.

1. 1. Apologies 1

2. 2. Conflict of Interest 1

3. 3. Consideration of General Business Items 1

4. 4. Confirmation of Minutes 1

5. 5. Report on trip to China by Hawke's Bay Youth Orchestra in April 2018 2

6. 6. Councillor Watkins - NZ Guilin Fellowship Association Inc and Update on the Amazing China Face Race 2018 2

7. 7. NZ Guilin Fellowship Association AGM and dinner on 29 September 2018 and Kaifeng Student Visit to Hawke's Bay 2

8. 8. Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst - Report on 2018 Asians in the Bay Awards 3

9. 9. Sue Padfield - Update on the International Student Exchange with Guilin Zhongshan Middle School 3

10. 3. Consideration of General Business Items 4

HASTINGS DISTRICT COUNCIL

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE International Advisory Group

HELD IN THE Landmarks Room, Ground Floor, Civic Administration Building, Lyndon Road East, Hastings ON

Wednesday, 12 September 2018 AT 3.00pm

Present: Chair: Councillor Travers

Councillors Dixon and Watkins

Charlotte van Asch (NZ China Friendship Society); Mrs J Too (Hawke’s Bay Chinese Association); Mrs Rizwaana Latiff (Hawke’s Bay Multicultural Association), Mrs S Padfield (Education Link Group)

IN ATTENDANCE: Economic Development Manager (Mr L Neville)

Committee Secretary (Mrs C Hilton)

ALSO PRESENT: Mae Smith, Tour Manager and Vice-President Hawke’s Bay Orchestral Society (present for Item 5)

Wenhua Yang, Regional Manager, Learning Hawke’s Bay (present for Item 5 and making informal presentation after meeting)

1. Apologies

Councillor Dixon/Councillor Watkins

That an apology for absence from Mayor Hazlehurst and an apology for lateness from Rizwaana Latiff be accepted.

CARRIED

2. Conflict of Interest

There were no declarations of conflicts of interest.

3. Consideration of General Business Items

This item was addressed later in the meeting.

4. Confirmation of Minutes

Councillor Dixon/Councillor Watkins

That the minutes of the International Advisory Group held Wednesday 16 May 2018 be confirmed as a true and correct record and be adopted.

CARRIED

Report on trip to China by Hawke's Bay Youth Orchestra in April 2018

(Document 18/493)

Rizwaana Latiff joined the meeting at this point.

Charlotte van Asch and Mae Smith addressed the presentation (CG-14-10-00024) which had been included in the agenda. They highlighted the main points of the visit to China by the Hawke’s Bay Youth Orchestra on 17-27 April 2018. A shorter version of the presentation had previously been given to a meeting of the Education Link Group on 3 May 2018.

Mrs Padfield/Mrs Too

That the report of the Economic Development Manager titled “Report on trip to China by Hawke's Bay Youth Orchestra in April 2018” dated 12/09/2018 be received.

CARRIED

Councillor Watkins - NZ Guilin Fellowship Association Inc and Update on the Amazing China Face Race 2018

(Document 18/858)

Councillor Watkins backgrounded and gave a verbal update on the Amazing China Face Race 2018. The competition winner was Caitlin Thomas from Iona College who is going to China this Sunday as part of her prize. The 2018 “face” is Lijia Zhentong from Shandong Province, who was unable to come to NZ to take part in the blossom parade this year, but was planning to come at a later time.

Councillor Watkins also spoke on his visit to Hengshui High School.

Councillor Watkins/Councillor Dixon

That the report titled “Councillor Watkins – NZ Guilin Fellowship Association Inc and Update on the Amazing China Face Race 2018” be received.

CARRIED

NZ Guilin Fellowship Association AGM and dinner on 29 September 2018 and Kaifeng Student Visit to Hawke's Bay

(Document 18/861) (Two reports addressing the Kaifeng School visit had also been circulated prior to the meeting)

A report from the NZ China Friendship Society on the Kaifeng student visit (CG-14-10-00028) and an email from Wenhua Yang, Regional Manager, Learning Hawke’s Bay (CG-14-10-00029) had both been pre-circulated to the IAG members prior to the meeting for their information.

Councillor Watkins backgrounded the establishment of the NZ Guilin Fellowship Association, noting that the AGM and dinner was to celebrate the mid-Autumn Festival. Details of this event had not yet been confirmed.

Councillor Watkins/Mrs Too

That the report titled “NZ Guilin Fellowship Association AGM and dinner on 29 September 2018 and Kaifeng Student Visit to Hawke's Bay” be received.

CARRIED

Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst - Report on 2018 Asians in the Bay Awards

(Document 18/819)

Rizwaana Latiff spoke about the Asians in the Bay Awards held on Monday, 7 August 2018 which had been very successful.

Mrs Latiff/Mrs Padfield

That the report titled “Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst - Report on 2018 Asians in the Bay Awards” dated 12/09/2018 be received.

CARRIED

Sue Padfield - Update on the International Student Exchange with Guilin Zhongshan Middle School

(Document 18/859)

Sue Padfield spoke to her report advising that there were two exchange students currently staying locally – Yolanda (Hastings Girls) and Quan (Havelock High) – and they had been given a lot of out of school experiences, as it was exam time at both schools when they arrived.

Before the students left, on 23 September, it was hoped that they could meet the Mayor and Councillors and that photos could be taken with them. Education Link and NZ China Friendship Society members were also invited.

Sue asked if any monetary assistance could be provided to help with the costs for the NZ students planning to undertake a return exchange in the Christmas holidays, particularly as their families had contributed so much in hosting the Chinese students currently staying here.

Mrs Padfield/Mrs Too

A) That the report titled “Sue Padfield - Update on the International Student Exchange with Guilin Zhongshan Middle School” be received.

B) That the Education Link Group be granted assistance from the International Advisory Group, in the amount of up to $400.00 for each of the two students who are undertaking a return exchange to Guilin in December 2018, to assist with their costs.

C) That Sue Padfield, Education Link Group provide the Economic Development Manager, Lee Neville, with the following information to form the basis of support for the funding application in B) above:

· The names of the Chinese students currently being hosted in Hawke’s Bay.

· The names of the Hawke’s Bay schools that each of these Chinese students attended.

· The length of time these Chinese exchange students had stayed in Hawke’s Bay.

· The names, addresses and contact details for each of the local families hosting the Chinese exchange students.

· The names of the student guardians travelling with the HB exchange students on their return visit to Guilin.

· The proposed dates of travel for the Hawke’s Bay exchange students.

· The method of payment of the assistance granted in B) above – e.g. copies of tickets and details of insurance costs etc.

CARRIED

3. Consideration of General Business Items

Councillor Travers explained that a diversity strategy for Council was being prepared, with a number of projects being worked on. Councillors Travers and Watkins, Jenny Too and Rizwaana Latiff and others were involved with this work. The next meeting was on 2 October.

The 40^th anniversary celebrations of the Hastings - Guilin Sister-City would be marked in 2021.

Mr Daya Dayatilake was no longer a Hawke’s Bay Multicultural Association representative on the International Advisory Group. The new representative from the Association is Layeequlla Baig.

Following the meeting there were two informal sessions to be addressed:

· Wenhua Yang, Regional Manager, Learning Hawke’s Bay will give an informal presentation (CG-14-10-00027) on the work she undertook in the local community.

· The Guilin Forum was scheduled for 17 December 2018. Discussion with other parties with an interest in the forum was suggested.

The meeting closed at 4.01pm

Confirmed:

Chairman:

Date:

File Ref: 19/495

REPORT TO: International Advisory Group

MEETING DATE: Tuesday 14 May 2019

FROM: Manager: Democracy and Governance Services

Jackie Evans

SUBJECT: Osmanthus Garden Lantern Festival Report

1.0 BACKGROUND

1.1 Councillor Kevin Watkins has prepared the following report on the Osmanthus Garden Lantern Festival held on 3 - 7 April 2019.

“The Osmanthus Garden Lantern festival is now a Highlight event on the Hastings District Events calendar. From its beginnings, some eight years ago, it has developed and is now marketed as a unique high quality visitor and family destination.”

The weather gods were kind leading up to the festival three of the five days/nights were forecasted for rain. In actual fact, on one night we had a couple of rain drops over a five minute period, the other nights were fine and cool.

The lighting and lantern setup was all completed on time. Again secure fencing was erected around the perimeter of the garden which creates a very useful delineation between the festival garden and the wider Cornwall Park.

Over 120 colourful lanterns were acquired this year from Guangzhou. These smaller lanterns created a point of difference and were admired by many photographers every night. A huge thank you to the NZ Guilin Friendship Association, Mr Bill Chen, Mr David Xie and Wenhua for arranging the purchase of the lanterns, and importantly, their delivery from Guangzhou to Hastings at no cost.

Wednesday and Thursday night attendances appeared well up on previous years. On these nights recorded music played.

Friday night saw a Tsunami of people arrive, by 7.30pm the garden was very full and queues lined up along Tomoana Road East way past the large duck pond. I think two reasons for the mass of people; the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday nights was not favourable, so Friday night was the night of choice weather wise, coupled with our fantastic Chinese musicians from Wellington who played Friday and Saturday nights. I would like to acknowledge and thank the China Culture Centre (NZ) Wellington, and Mr Wendell Cooke for all the arrangements in bringing together these five very talented musicians, and a huge thank you to the musicians themselves. It was great to hear them say they had never played in such a beautiful and authentic Chinese garden in New Zealand, and their repertoire of Chinese and Western music and Māori songs delighted the thousands who heard them.

Local radio, and HB Today gave the festival in my view outstanding coverage and photos and I wish to thank them both. The festival is now of age and seen as an icon Hastings event.

Media coverage of our festival travelled far beyond our shores. Xinhau, China’s official News Agency filmed the festival on two nights. The edited videos and written reports with high quality photos appeared on the China Official Government Website in Beijing, I believe the NZ Embassy website in Beijing, and were also broadcast across eighteen provinces in China. This was incredible, along with all the other social media coverage in China, and there were glowing comments about our Garden. Hastings should feel justifiably proud.

Saturday night was far bigger than expected after the hectic previous evening and Sunday night drew a great crowd who were delighted to be treated to the harmonious singing from our Solomon Island RSE workers. The Solomon people were so delighted to be asked to participate and to feel such a part of Hastings community. Already they are thinking of more beautiful songs for next year’s festival.

Men and women power was offered to help each night secure the entry/exist gates. This was invaluable and I wish to acknowledge and thank everyone for their great efforts. I would like to especially acknowledge Jenny Too, Simon Nixon, Malcolm Dixon, Rizwaana Latiff and Jessica Dufty from Havelock North Rotary who attended every night.

A big thanks to our Parks Team for a great effort and keeping the garden and infrastructure the cleanest I have seen.

Donations: Our gold coin collections totalled over $6,000. This money must be earmarked to add new lanterns, infrastructure and entertainment for the following year, and carried over in Council’s budgets.

IAG contribution to this year’s Festival was $9,000 and I wish to acknowledge and thank the committee for this assistance. This is an iconic IAG activity, I would like to ask that the same amount be committed from the 2019/20 budget for next year’s lantern festival.

Attendance figures: Although no official counting has been undertaken, I believe a fair estimate would be 8,000 to 10,000 people of five nights.

General Comments: Police attended a couple of nights as a precaution, this being a highly attended multi ethnic event. I am very pleased to say we saw no anti-social behaviour or activity. Our night time security guard is essential.

Other useful comments to enhance the Festival have been taken up during the debrief with Tanya Jackson, Council’s Events Manager. I wish to acknowledge and thank Tanya and Council’s Events Team for their assistance.

Finally, a big thank you to everyone from our committee who contributed in any way, big or small.

2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND REASONS

A) That the report of the Democratic Support Manager titled “Osmanthus Garden Lantern Festival Report” dated 14/05/2019 be received.

B) That $9,000 be allocated from the 2019/20 International Advisory Group’s budget to support the 2020 Lantern Festival.

Attachments:

There are no attachments for this report.

File Ref: 19/497

REPORT TO: International Advisory Group

MEETING DATE: Tuesday 14 May 2019

FROM: Manager: Democracy and Governance Services

Jackie Evans

SUBJECT: Report From the Chair Education Link

1.0 SUMMARY

1.1 The purpose of this report is to inform the Group of the activity of Education Link. The Chair, Sue Padfield has supplied the following report:

“The student exchange with Zhongshan Middle School in Guilin is complete.

At different times both families have expressed to me that it was a positive experience for them.

The girls both enjoyed their time in Guilin and the different culture. School until 9pm was a big difference, but both were warmly welcomed by other pupils. They also managed some sightseeing with their families. Naimh has reported as wanting to return with her younger sister sometime. The on-going communication between students was great and made easier through talk.

Both girls have expressed their thanks to H.D.C. for their support.

This exchange has been quite different from previous ones, mainly because of staff changes.

Both girls had uniforms to wear from the senior pupils from Zhongshan. I understand that Holly would like to donate hers to the Guilin Room. Uniform wearing is perhaps something we should discuss with the schools here so that we have consistency.

I was told that Naimh had to pay for her meals which were all eaten at the school. This was something new also.

I have asked the families and the two girls for more personal feedback so that we can be as helpful as possible for the next exchange. I expect this for the next Education Link meeting.

I would like to thank the families for all they did for Yolanda and Yuchen when they were here, and congratulate them on the extra things they did to make the time so special. The students were reluctant to leave. It was really great how the families were able to adjust their schedules to fit in the visitors, who arrived at quite short notice. Also the liaison between the families, both here and in Guilin, for their daughters return visit was great.

I would also like to thank the schools for their excellent choices of students, and all the support they have given to this exchange.”

Sue Padfield

Education Link

2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND REASONS

A) That the report of the Democratic Support Manager titled “Report From the Chair Education Link” dated 14/05/2019 be received.

Attachments:

Photo Education Link - Sue Padfield

CG-14-10-00038

File Ref: 19/499

REPORT TO: International Advisory Group

MEETING DATE: Tuesday 14 May 2019

FROM: Economic Development Manager

Lee Neville

SUBJECT: Promoting Hastings to the Thailand Education Market

1.0 SUMMARY

1.1 The purpose of this report is advise the Group on the proposal to promote Hastings to the Thailand education market.

1.2 The following information has been provided by Wenhua Yang of Learning Hawke’s Bay.

About Learning Hawke’s Bay

Learning Hawke’s Bay is an association of schools and institutions enrolling international students in Hawke’s Bay. The vast majority of international students in Hawke’s Bay are enrolled in our member schools. We currently have 21 members, with about half of the members located in Hastings.

Learning Hawke’s Bay has two primary functions:

1. Promoting Hawke’s Bay as a desirable international education destination;

2. Run cross-region programmes to help international students feel at home in Hawke’s Bay, and ensure they have a positive experience here and develop long-term connections with this region.

Rationale for this proposal

International education is the 4^th biggest export business in New Zealand, contributing about $5.1 billion to New Zealand. About $60 million of this has come to Hawke’s Bay, supporting about 730 jobs. There is a value increase of 165% since 2016. We had about 1,280 international students last year, who largely come from India, China, other Asian nations, Europe and South America.

International education not only contributes to our economy, but also provides opportunities to our local students and communities to improve international and intercultural knowledge and competencies, and build life-long connections with international friends. This is important for Hawke’s Bay to continue to thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.

However, compared to the rest of the country, Hawke’s Bay has one of the lowest number of international students in our region, and the percentage of international students in our schools are very low as well, ranging between 1% - 3%, whereas other regions are often around 5-10%. There is a big potential for Hawke’s Bay to increase international students in our region. However, one of the biggest challenges is the lack of profile in the international education market, as a region.

Learning Hawke’s Bay used to receive funding from the central agency Education New Zealand to run our core functions. From this financial year starting at 1 July 2019, however, Education New Zealand will no longer fund the core businesses of regional bodies such as Learning Hawke’s Bay. This leaves a huge gap of funding for our promotional work. We need the Council’s support to continue to promote our region to overseas markets. For Hawke’s Bay schools to recruit more international students, a major barrier is the lack of profile of Hawke’s Bay in the international education market. Raising profile requires Hawke’s Bay education providers to build active relations with education agents and local market. Attending agent seminars and visiting overseas agents regularly to introduce ourselves to them is a key. However, many schools have limited resources to do this by themselves, hence Learning Hawke’s Bay is formed partly to conduct collaborative marketing for our member schools.

The Proposal

Thailand has been identified as a new emerging market for our schools. We intend to attend one of the Education New Zealand international agent seminars/fairs in Thailand in the next financial year, and/or join the TIECA agent seminar. TIECA is Thailand’s most important international education agent association and they run annual agent seminars where schools and institutions from Australia, New Zealand and Canada etc will be there to introduce themselves to Thai’s education agents.

Participating in such events will require about $2,500 for entrance (including online/offline promotions by the organiser, a booth at the seminar, and other logistic support). For Learning Hawke’s Bay to have a presence there, we will also need to cover one person’s flights and accommodation, totalling about $2,500. There will also be costs for insurance, meals, local transport, printing of marketing brochures in Thai language and marketing gifts etc – another $1,000.

In summary, we would like to apply for a total of $6,000 from the International Advisory Committee to run this marketing activity in Thailand.

2.0 RECOMMENDATIONS AND REASONS

A) That the report of the Economic Development Manager titled “Promoting Hastings to the Thailand Education Market” dated 14/05/2019 be received.

Attachments:

There are no attachments for this report.

Hastings District Council

Lyndon Road East, Hastings