With New Zealand's considerable student population and robust collaboration with China in teaching and research, Steven Joyce, the country's minister for tertiary education, skills and employment, anticipates ever-closer ties between the South Pacific island nation and its mainland neighbor to the north.

In 2014, more than 30,000 Chinese students studied in New Zealand, making up 27 percent of the country's international student population, Joyce said at a media roundtable for the delegation he led to Beijing in late October to attend the China Annual Conference for International Education.

The conference, organized by the China Education Association for International Exchange and supported by the Ministry of Education, has been held for 15 years. Each year is themed to promote studies by Chinese students in a selected foreign country. This year, New Zealand has the marquee role.