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ew Zealand has placed a new emphasis on education in its bilateral ties with Indonesia by expanding cooperations between universities, offering more scholarships and holding education fairs this week, a diplomat said.

New Zealand Ambassador to Indonesia and ASEAN, David Taylor, said on Thursday that education was an area “where we can work together very effectively. We can offer educational services and help [Indonesia] with educational capacity building”.

Taylor said that increased cooperation was reflected in the establishment of the bilateral Education Joint Working Group last year, through which the two governments exchanged best practice on education policy, followed by the visit of a 60-member education delegation together with Prime Minister John Key to Indonesia in April 2012 and Minister of Tertiary Education Hon Steven Joyce three months later.

Education New Zealand, established in 2011, is now establishing its first full-time education manager position in Jakarta to raise awareness of educational opportunities in the country of 4.5 million population.

“We want to have a deep and multifaceted educational relationship with Indonesia by promoting our country as destination for education at all levels,” said Taylor, referring to the upcoming New Zealand Education Fairs.

The education fairs will kick off on Saturday in Medan, North Sumatra (at JW Marriott Hotel Medan), followed by Jakarta (at Grand Hyatt Jakarta) on Sunday and in Surabaya, East Java (at JW Marriott Hotel Surabaya) on Wednesday, which will see participation from around 25 universities, polytechnics and other institutions.

“New Zealand has the highest proportion of any country in the world. Our universities ranked in the world top 500,” Taylor said of the performance of the country’s eight universities in the world ranking. Seven universities are in the 2012/2013 QS World Top 500; six are in the 2011/2012 Times Higher Education Supplement’s top 400, and five are in the 2012/2013 Shanghai Jiao Tong top 500.

Taylor said that in 2011, his government increased scholarship slots for postgraduate studies to 50 per year, from the previous 15, and another 12 slots for geothermal training for engineers. The application deadline for studies commencing in 2014 is April 22 (www.nzembassy.com/indonesia).

Political counselor at the New Zealand Embassy, David Treacher, said that his country committed up to NZ$6 million (US$ 4.9 million) per year for the scholarship program.

The number of Indonesian students in the island nation is now 800 out of 100,000 international students, with China as the largest source, followed by India, South Korea and Japan.

Treacher said all eight New Zealand universities now have agreements, partnerships or links with their Indonesian counterparts for joint degrees, joint research, and pathways for Indonesian students to study in New Zealand,

“Around 15 new agreements were signed in 2012 alone,” he added.

New Zealand opened its embassy in Jakarta in 1968. Last year, New Zealand’s exports to Indonesia reached NZ$856 million, while Indonesia’s exports to New Zealand was at NZ$724 million. Total two-way trade for 12 months to June 2012 was NZ$1.58 billion. Indonesia was New Zealand’s 13th largest trading partner for goods trade.