Polytechnic keen to welcome Chinese fashion students

Bay of Plenty Polytechnic fashion tutor Anne-Marie Simon is part of a select group of Tauranga fashion teachers about to embark on a trip to Jiangxi Fuzhuang University in China.

Marketing themselves as ‘the top fashion university in all of China’, Jiangxi Fuzhuang is in Nanchang, a small city (by Chinese standards) of four million people, recently  voted by Newsweek as the sixth most dynamic city in the world.

The institution is massive with 10,000 students engaged in a two year fashion diploma – surprisingly two thirds are male students. At only ten years old, the institution is modern and well equipped with teaching rooms, cutting and sewing rooms, exhibition halls and a theatre with a 25m runway and seating for 2000.

Anne-Marie says she’s pretty excited about the trip – she’s never been to China. “I’m also a little overwhelmed at what a fantastic opportunity this is,” she enthuses. “I will be travelling with local Secondary School teachers and we’ll get to see first hand the many speciality areas Jiangxi Fuzhang has to offer – from fashion design, textiles, jewellery making and even shoe designing!”

In China there is little chance of students progressing from vocational training to degree level so educators at Fuzhuang are interested in how the Polytechnic pathways students from Certificate and Diploma programmes through to Degree level. This in turn may lead to closer ties between the two institutions with opportunities for student placements in the future.

“I can’t wait to get on that plane – I’m planning on taking heaps of photographs and notes,” says Anne-Marie. “I look forward to sharing my findings and experiences on my return not just to our fashion team but anyone else who is interested! There are so many opportunities opening up in China and it’s great to be at the forefront of this in Tauranga.”