The Council and university are keen to make more of the relationship and Councillors and some Council staff spent time before the meeting learning more about the university’s research centres.

A lot of work and research is already being exchanged between the staffs of the organisations and their respective economic development arms, but among the areas suggested as ripe for greater cooperation and mutual support are scholarships and cadetships, joint visits by high-profile experts, support in research funding applications, and information and data sharing.

Councillors were reminded that the University of Canterbury is an important contributor to the local economy, earning about $25 million from the education of foreign students and about $22m from doing contracted research. The university estimates its 12,156 students directly spend $534m a year and that its total economic contribution is in the order of $1.2 billion a year.

The university also is an important provider of continuing education for the city and surrounding region, with more than 10,000 enrolments for its 560 courses.

The Council meeting was on 22 May, Biodiversity Day. To mark the day Trees for Canterbury, a community organisation supported by the Council, provided each Councillor with a native plant which would suit their home sections. Among its goals, Trees for Canterbury aims to cultivate native plants for community plantings and revegetation projects. Two thirds of its production is used in this way.