Developing Distance Learning Exchanges With Australia

The Centre de rencontres et d'échanges internationaux du Pacifique (CREIPAC), the Vice-Rectorat Direction régionale des enseignements, the Official Representative of New Caledonia in Australia, the French Embassy in Canberra and the representatives of the French language teaching network in the Canberra region met via video screens last weekend. This videoconference had several objectives. "First of all, it was to identify ways to strengthen cooperation between New Caledonia and the Canberra region in the fields of education and training in order to promote the French language in Australia, explained Yves Lafoy, the delegate for New Caledonia based at the French Embassy in Canberra. The idea is also to develop alternatives to school exchanges suspended due to the health crisis, by promoting distance exchanges. "

"New Caledonia's Assets"

This meeting was an opportunity for the New Caledonian participation to highlight, from Noumea, "the assets of New Caledonia". The director of CREIPAC, Valérie Meunier, and the academic delegate for European and international relations and cooperation from the Vice-Rectorate, Isabelle Arellano, took turns presenting the language immersion programs in New Caledonia offered by CREIPAC, the educational project of New Caledonia - one of whose ambitions is "to open the New Caledonian school to the Oceania region in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century" -, the Australian international sections, the emphasis placed on the teaching of English and the many school partnerships that already exist with Australian schools.

Two Topics of Cooperation to be Developed

This first meeting revealed a strong interest in New Caledonia," concluded Yves Lafoy at the end of the videoconference. This interest was shown by the teachers, but also by the Canberra region's Department of Education and Training, which expressed its support for future exchanges and meetings between students from Nouméa and Canberra. "This shared desire to intensify collaboration between the two countries has already led to the establishment of two initial areas of cooperation. "One for the implementation of educational projects and the other for the development of links between young people in the two territories," announced the Official Representative.