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Inaugural Japan Fair a resounding success
It wasn’t just about the numbers though – the level of interest and engagement between visitors and exhibitors was palpable. Many visitors spent a few hours at the fair, taking their time to explore study options in New Zealand. Participating New Zealand providers enjoyed both the quantity and quality of their consultations with potential students, parents and schools.
Much to the keen interest of their New Zealand counterparts, representatives from some of Japan’s universities also attended, with a view to seeking partnerships.
Frances Little, Director, International Centre at AUT University, remarked, “Congratulations on an extremely successful agent workshop and student fair in Tokyo. These were the best supported events organised by ENZ I have attended in my years working in the industry. Team Japan you are a credit to the organisation and deserve every accolade you get. Thank you for everything, AUT will definitely be at the Japan events next year.”
In conjunction with the fair, ENZ hosted two education seminars and alumni networking events in Osaka on 8 October and Tokyo on 9 October. More than 65 education agents and institutions in total attended the seminars, and more than 150 guests were welcomed at the networking events.
ENZ is grateful for the support of Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand at the fair, as well as that of entrepreneurial New Zealand companies, Cookie Time and Allpress Espresso, that provided cookie and coffee samples to the guests.
As part of ENZ’s Business Plan for 2015/16 Japan was prioritised as a ‘promote’ market and will see a corresponding increase in the number of promotional activities. With the Japanese government’s goal to double the number of Japanese students studying overseas to 18,000 by 2020, and with the upcoming Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the Olympics in 2020, we are seeing Japanese schools and universities have be increasingly proactive in exploring international partnership opportunities.
ENZ looks forward to hosting an education fair, agent/industry seminars and alumni networking events again in October 2016.
Help shape the future of New Zealand education
Much has changed since the current Education Act became law in 1989, and it's time to bring it up to date and reflect New Zealand now, and in the future. This consultation presents ideas for change to help us get there.
Growth in international education relies heavily on having high-performing schools across the country and, as international education providers, your views are important.
Consultation is now open and closes at 5pm on Monday 14 December 2015.
There are three ways to make a submission:
1. Online, via MoE’s Consultation Hub, where you will find a video where Education Minister Hon Hekia Parata talks about the consultation, and a copy of the full discussion document.
2. By emailing your submission to education.update@education.govt.nz
3. By writing to: Education Act Update, Ministry of Education, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
IEGF funding broadens markets
Unsure how you can use the International Education Growth Fund (IEGF) to help innovate your offering?
We talked to Mike Walmsley, Chief Executive of Code Avengers, about how he has used the IEGF to grow his business.
ENZ: So Mike, what’s Code Avengers all about?
Mike: We have developed an online learning platform that teaches people how to build their own apps, games and websites in a way that is effective and fun as possible.
We are looking to expand into other related subject areas. Starting with a design focus – so, not only how to code software but also how to make it look nice. And, moving on to things like copy writing – making sure the content on your website or app engages learners – and tips on digital marketing that will get people actually using the product!
What has the International Education Growth Fund enabled you to do?
Our IEGF proposal was for internationalising our website. Our online courses contain a whole series of interactive exercises where people actually write code and build products as they learn. Initially, the instructions in these exercises were only available in English and those who didn’t have a reading age above 12 would struggle to follow them.
The fund enabled us to translate the course material into other languages – Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch! We’re also working on a Japanese translation. Thankfully, we’d developed the material with this in mind, so the translation process has been relatively straightforward.
Dutch is sort of the odd one out there. How that arose, was that one of our customers in the Netherlands offered to translate the content into Dutch while she was on holiday in Thailand. We jumped at the chance, and used that as a translation test case, which was really helpful.
This young woman is now working with us full time on marketing and promoting Code Avengers, including the code camps and clubs that we run. The IEGF funding has also enabled her to promote our products and engage partner organisations in other parts of Europe.
While we’re here, do you have any advice for others considering launching an EdTech business?
In any start up, passion is the key. You’ve got big competition, there are a lot of challenges and it’s not easy. In my case, I’m also doing a PhD part time and have a couple of kids, so that all adds to the challenge. For at least the first year and a half, I didn’t have anyone working with me full time, so really I think it’s the passion that keeps you going. The passion, combined with the feedback you get from customers, means you end up building a product that they like. Those two things are key.
What’s the most rewarding thing about your work?
One is definitely the feedback you get from customers. One customer emailed us saying that for their whole life – for 45 years – they thought they were really bad at maths and useless at learning anything that was quantitative.
After doing our courses, which have quite a bit of math in them, they’re feeling really good about themselves. They said, “for 45 years, I thought I was dumb and now it’s just I’ve been taught in the wrong way.”
Realising that your work can actually have real impact on someone’s life is probably the most satisfying thing.
Find out more about Code Avengers here.
Study Auckland local agent forum
Connections were made via a series of 15-minute meetings plus networking over lunch at the Hilton Auckland.
“It was a great day and well organised,” said Lesley King, Director of International Students at Glen Eden Intermediate School.
“Meeting local agents is always worthwhile and hopefully we will gain some worthwhile partnerships.”
After lunch, the agents received an update from Immigration New Zealand’s Education Sector Relationship Manager, Katy Aldcroft.
The update covered Immigration Online and the Pathway Student Visa option.
“Local agent forums have been part of Study Auckland’s work for many years, and highlight the important role onshore agents play in driving international education growth in the Auckland region,” said Study Auckland Manager, Nick Arnott.
“The agents also really appreciated the Immigration New Zealand update and the lively Q&A session that followed.”
New website address reflects government endorsement
Our research demonstrated that websites which are clearly identifiable as government-endorsed have a distinct advantage in the international marketplace.
The studyinnewzealand.govt.nz address lends legitimacy and credibility to the website. The .govt url can’t be faked, and our audience understands this.
It is invaluable in building trust in our brand and the information we provide for international audiences. It is also in line with the practice of our nearest competitor: www.studyinaustralia.gov.au
Student visa approval rates available
The list of approval rates for student visas is updated every year by Immigration New Zealand and relates to the change to Rule 18 of the Programme Approval and Accreditation Rules, which was implemented in October 2015. Only relevant student visa categories are counted to produce this list, which covers offshore student visa applications only.
The rule change brought in to effect different programme entry requirements for international students from countries with a student visa approval rate below 80 per cent. English language entry requirements for international students from countries with a student visa approval rate of 80 percent or above remained the same.
Organisations have until 2 March 2016 to reflect the updated approval rates.
Saudi event changes
The 2016 International Exhibition and Conference on Education (IECHE) – traditionally the key recruitment event for the year – has been cancelled by the organisers.
To ensure New Zealand continues to be promoted as an education destination to prospective students in 2016, ENZ is considering participating in IGEC’s upcoming International Educational Expertise Forum (IEEF) events in Jeddah and Riyadh on 24 - 27 April 2016.
These events are expected to attract industry participants from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Turkey and South Africa, as well as New Zealand.
The IEEF events have received approval from the Saudi Ministry of Education and organisers are able to issue invitations for visas.
To coincide with the IEEF events, ENZ will host an Agent Seminar at the New Zealand Embassy in Riyadh, and will support in-market networking with key scholarship sponsors.
IEEF event registration
Registration for IEEF is made by emailing the registration form directly to the organisers. The form is available on the Saudi events page, accessed via ENZ’s Event Calendar.
ENZ’s Agent Seminar registration
Registration for the Agent Seminar can also be done via ENZ’s Event Calendar.
Please email questions to middleeast@enz.govt.nz.
Pulling in for a roadmap pit stop
More than 200 participants from all sectors met across five centres to discuss where we are on the roadmap journey, what’s changed, and where we go next.
The Strategic Roadmaps were developed in 2014 following extensive discussion and workshops to create a roadmap, or strategic plan, to achieve the 2025 goals for the international education industry.
“It was good to reconvene and recognise the significant achievements of the past year, as well as look out to future challenges and consider what they could mean for the strategic choices that were identified in 2014,” says Greg Scott, ENZ Business Development Manager.
“All 2014 strategic choices were put on the table to revisit and reconsider, and we’re working through the wealth of feedback industry gave us.”
Feedback shows that diversifying markets, balancing growth across New Zealand, as well as strengthening cross-sector collaboration and pathways, continuing market-led product development, and growing capability are common top priorities.
More detail on the reprioritised strategic choices by sector will be available in early 2016.
Clive Jones, ENZ General Manager Business Development, says the pit stops showed a bright outlook: “Over 85% of participants indicated that they are more optimistic about their international education business than a year earlier, which is a good way to begin a new year.”
Pathway visa announced
This is great news for our industry and one of the priority actions identified in the international education industry strategic roadmap developed in 2014.
The pathway student visa will allow international students to undertake up to three consecutive programmes of study with selected education providers on a single visa that is valid for up to five years. A pathway programme can be offered by a single provider, or by a group of providers. For example, a student could obtain a pathway visa to study for three consecutive years at a school, or obtain a visa to undertake a year of study at an English language institution, progress to a year-long foundation programme, and follow that with a three-year degree programme.
Over 500 primary, secondary and tertiary institutions have been invited to participate in the 18 month pilot on the basis that they have a student visa application approval rate of 90 percent or higher for the 2014/15 financial year. A list of participating New Zealand education providers is available on the Immigration New Zealand (INZ) website.
The 18 month pilot period started on 7 December and will enable INZ to evaluate pilot outcomes, such as student transition rates from the first to the second programme of study and how well the arrangements between education providers are working.
Find out more about the key conditions and features of the pathway visa on the Immigration New Zealand website here.
Indian student success stories in the news
You can read summaries of the stories below, and follow the link to read the article in The Hindu. To read the Woman’s Weekly article, you’ll need to get hold of a copy of the magazine itself.
ENZ is keen to facilitate more of this sort of coverage at home and abroad, so please send your ideas for such stories to media@enz.govt.nz.
INDIA: Design in New Zealand
Aniket Ujjainkar, an Indian international student was profiled last week in a leading Indian newspaper, The Hindu, which has a daily circulation of more than 1.3 million. Anikat recently secured his dream job as a Creature Assistant Technical Director at Weta Digital. He credits his success to the practical, hands on teaching approach he experienced at Media Design School where he studied towards a Bachelor of Art and Design degree. Film and animation studies are niche courses that New Zealand has particular expertise in. Animation is an emerging market in India with good job prospects and is gaining popularity with students. It is through profile pieces like this that we are raising awareness about New Zealand’s offering in this area. One of New Zealand’s strengths is our focus on work-ready graduates and this first-hand student account powerfully demonstrates how students can apply their skills from study to the workforce. ENZ first met with Aniket when Media Design School kindly hosted an Indian journalist as part of ENZ’s media familiarisation programme.
NEW ZEALAND: Everest record breakers – Southland Sisters’ Double Joy
This month ten recipients of the Indian New Zealand Sports Scholarships completed their year-long scholarships at New Zealand institutions. Tashi and Nungshi Malik studied a graduate diploma in sport and recreation at the Southern Institute of Technology in Invercargill and were featured in the 23 November issue of the New Zealand Woman’s Weekly magazine. In April the twins became the youngest in the world to complete the “Explorers Grand Slam” – having reached the North and South pole as well as climbing the seven highest peaks of the world including Mount Everest. They also champion women’s rights, using their mountaineering as a metaphor to demonstrate that women can achieve to the same heights as their male counterparts. The article highlights New Zealand’s reputation as a peaceful destination with friendly people and a great outdoor lifestyle.
After meeting the group of scholarship students. ENZ saw the human interest aspect in the twins’ story and contacted the magazine. Telling the story of international students and their contribution to New Zealand is a priority for ENZ.