July 2025 — Beijing

Recently, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon led a high-level delegation on an official visit to China. As part of the visit, a key education-themed event was held at the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing. Professor Wei Lu, President of the Communication University of Zhejiang (CUZ), was invited to attend and held a cordial conversation with Prime Minister Luxon during the event.

Witnessed by Prime Minister Luxon and other dignitaries, President Wei exchanged the signed agreement text with Professor Nic Smith, Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), formalizing the joint master's degree training program between the two institutions.

During their meeting, Professor Wei and Professor Smith engaged in in-depth discussions and reached broad consensus on further strengthening cooperation in talent cultivation, academic research, and cultural exchange. Both parties agreed to explore a new model for international collaboration in interdisciplinary areas combining culture and technology, aiming to provide talent support for China–New Zealand cultural exchange and sustainable social development.

President Wei also held productive discussions with officials from the Department of International Cooperation and Exchanges of China’s Ministry of Education, the Center for Language Education and Cooperation, the Center for China–Foreign Humanities Exchange, the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), and the Education Counsellor of the New Zealand Embassy.

Victoria University of Wellington, founded in 1897 and located in the capital city of New Zealand, is a prestigious institution renowned for its research and teaching excellence. In 2021, CUZ and VUW jointly launched a Sino-foreign cooperative undergraduate program in Communication Studies, which was officially approved and began enrolling students.

In July 2024, 14 third-year students from CUZ's School of International Culture and Communication chose to pursue their fourth academic year at VUW under the "3+1" model.

On June 11, 2025, a special graduation ceremony for these Communication Studies students was held in New Zealand. Mr. Wan Ding, Second Secretary for Education Affairs at the Chinese Embassy in New Zealand, attended the event. Professor Averil Coxhead, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at VUW, delivered a speech and conferred certificates to the graduates.

All 14 students received dual degrees: a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Victoria University of Wellington, and a Bachelor's degree and diploma from the Communication University of Zhejiang.