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Korea looks to Christchurch and Canterbury
On 27-29 July, ChristchurchNZ led the group promotion that included an agent seminar and a student recruitment fair.
The promotion was planned to follow the success of a Korean reality TV show that featured a week in the school life of Korean celebrities’ children at Halswell School in Christchurch, which showcased Christchurch’s education system and lifestyle.
ENZ Senior Market Development Manager – South Korea, Kay Lee, said the promotions were a wonderful opportunity for Korean agents, parents and students to learn about the Christchurch’s globally connected economy, 21^st century education system and lifestyle, particularly highlighting the brand new city.
“Participating education providers did a fantastic job sharing with agents how Christchurch is the world’s newest city, alive with opportunities for young people to try new things, explore their potential and discover who they want to be,” Kay said.
On 28-29 July, the group, including University of Canterbury, Lincoln University, Ara Institute of Canterbury, Riccarton High School, Middleton Grange School, Kirkwood Intermediate School and Villa Maria College participated in a two-day, agent-led student recruitment fair to meet prospective Korean students and their parents.
The group was also representing Avonside High School, Casebrook Intermediate School, Cashmere High School, Christ’s College, Chisnallwood Intermediate, Cobham Intermediate School, Darfiled High School, Halswell School, Hillmorton High School, Papanui High School, Rangiora High School and St Bede’s High School in Christchurch.
ChristchurchNZ International Education Programme Manager, Bree Loverich, said the fair sent an all-round positive signal for education providers regarding this market.
“Agents, parents and students did not ask questions about the past, rather they were excited about the opportunity provided by our future-focused city. As a result, our agent partner reported that they took 22 pre-deposits on courses in Christchurch alone. After this trip, we are confident that we will see more Koreans students in our city and region,” Bree said.
Brazil’s untapped potential
Brazil is New Zealand’s largest source of international students in Latin America. Last year, almost 3,600 Brazilians studied in New Zealand and Ana Azevedo, ENZ’s Senior Market Development Manager for Brazil, says there is more room for growth.

“For institutions seeking quality students and diversity, Brazil may be the answer. According to the Brazilian Educational and Language Travel Association, more than 300,000 Brazilians studied abroad in 2017, so there is huge untapped potential in this market to be explored,” said Ana.

As country of honour, Brazil featured in two NZIEC breakout sessions.

In From Zero to Hero: How to lead a successful education strategy in Latin America Professor Kerry Taylor from Massey University shared his experience in developing links with Brazilian universities, jumping from zero to 10 agreements in only three years. Taylor emphasised that “nothing substantial will come from one single visit” and highlighted the importance of a proposition that meets your partner institution’s needs, saying “the best relations are mutually beneficial.”

The second session, Spotlight on Brazil: Finding your place in the sun, featured a panel of representatives from New Zealand secondary and tertiary institutions about their own success in the Brazilian market. Key recommendations included maintaining a consistent presence with the market, building and maintaining a personal relationship with local education agents and institutions and investing in digital marketing so Brazilian students can find you – Brazilians spend an average of three hours a day on social media platforms, mainly YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp.

Delegates also  enjoyed delicious Brazilian appetizers, drinks and live Brazilian music at an energetic conference dinner. The Brazilian Ambassador to New Zealand, HE Mr Paulo Cesar de Camargo, also attended and spoke about bilateral relations between our countries in the education space.

"Education is a very important aspect of the relationship between Brazil and New Zealand. As some 3,600 Brazilians choose New Zealand to study, we have also seen a growing interest in Kiwi students travelling to Brazil. This exchange builds foundations and pushes Brazil-New Zealand partnerships closer, and in future will create ties in various other fields.”

If you want to know more about the Brazilian market, check out the BELTA SEAL Market Survey 2018 here.
Changes to the Funds Transfer Scheme
As of 1 October 2018, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) and ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited (ANZ) have implemented changes to the Funds Transfer Scheme (FTS) process to make it easier for students to transfer their maintenance funds to New Zealand.
While the FTS itself does not guarantee that a student visa application will be approved, it provides international students an option to safely transfer their maintenance funds to a New Zealand bank account before they get here to help ensure access to these funds once they are in New Zealand.
It is currently available for students from China, India, Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Following feedback, INZ and ANZ have been working together to streamline the FTS, with the following changes being implemented on 1 October 2018:
- Students will only need to complete one FTS application form instead of two separate forms
- Minimum funds requirements will be the same for all FTS students (NZ $15,000)
- FTS accounts will be set up for the first year of study only (12 months)
- Students will be able to choose the local bank to use for the transfer of funds into their FTS account in New Zealand
- There will be a more efficient funds confirmation process.
Celia Coombes, INZ’s Sector Relationship Manager (Education), says the changes will not negatively impact students.
“INZ and ANZ have worked very hard to review the FTS scheme and make it easier for students to use as an option to transfer money to cover their living costs to New Zealand. We are confident that the changes will make the FTS a more streamlined and flexible service.”
Visit the INZ website for more information on the FTS.
A factsheet with more information can be found here.
It is also available in Chinese here.
PMSA scholar dances his way to Taiwan
My seven weeks in Taiwan has changed my life, inspired new career and life goals and given me tools to fuel my aspirations as a choreographer and diplomat.
I had already been to Taiwan in 2017, when I was a visiting scholar doing research at the prestigious dance school within the Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA). I did my thesis as part of my Postgraduate Diploma of Dance Studies for the University of Auckland.
My 2018 trip was focussed on learning and teaching indigenous dance and allowed me to reconnect with relationships I’d built the previous year, as well as build new ones with students, graduates and teachers of the TNUA department.
As a returning visitor to Taiwan, I felt it was important to attend the Amis Tribe harvest festival in Fengbin, Hualien County, to gain a deeper understanding of indigenous Taiwanese people. The Amis is the biggest indigenous tribe in Taiwan, and the harvest festival is one of the most important ceremonies of the tribe’s calendar year. They give thanks to ancestral spirits and celebrate their life and culture through dance, music, sports and unity.
Xavier with friends from the Amis Tribe.

As part of the celebrations, I helped choreograph a dance for some members of the tribe to perform for the chiefs and whole tribe. As they were only fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and I am only fluent in English, we had to communicate through hand gestures and facial expressions. By the end, I had become closer with the members of the group and understood more about their tribe, their culture and their personalities that transcends verbal communication.
I spent some time with Taiwan’s top indigenous contemporary dance company, Bularaeyang Dance Company, located in Taitung in the South-east of Taiwan. There, I took part in indigenous dance and music lessons, observed rehearsals and taught a movement class for the company members inspired by traditional Pacific dance styles fused with contemporary dance. I also taught Samoan sāsā, explaining the history and meaning behind sāsā and its significance in Samoa. I also taught Pacific and Pacific-Contemporary dance workshops at the TNUA Department of Dance, which is renowned for creating some of the world’s elite contemporary dance artists.
Though this was my second time in Taiwan, there were still some misunderstandings when speaking Mandarin Chinese. For example, when I would get thirsty during class I’d tell my classmates I needed a drink of water. Unfortunately, I always got my tone for the Chinese word for water, Shuǐ, mixed up with the word for sleep, Shuì, so people always thought I was tired or wanted to sleep during class!
“In Taiwan, I connected with fellow Kiwis working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Building these relationships was important as I hope to undertake a career in diplomacy in the future.”
I got to make further connections with top arts and dance festival producers, directors and curators at the Asia Discover Asia Meeting (ADAM), a festival and forum in Taipei where attendees from Australasia and the world come together to look at the future of arts and dance in Asia. It is an important event in which to collaborate, network and discuss project ideas for the future.
During my time in Taiwan, I connected with fellow Kiwis working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Asia New Zealand Foundation. Building these relationships was important to me as I hope to undertake a career in diplomacy in the future alongside my choreographic and artistic career. One contact was a fellow Samoan and family friend, and she provided me with advice about a career in international diplomacy. She also put me forward for a life-changing experience – the Indigenous Austronesian Forum, which I attended and represented New Zealand and Samoa.
The two-day Forum was hosted by the Taiwanese government, the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan and the Centre for Indigenous Studies and held at the National Donghwa University. Delegates came from indigenous tribes across Taiwan and the Pacific to take part in cultural exchanges, performances, indigenous community outreaches and to learn about issues in the region. A declaration was proposed at the forum, to create an agreement and document that highlighted issues of indigenous Austronesian people and how to improve and advocate for issues within governments and institutions. I am now collating this document and have been in discussions with the forum to return to Taiwan next year as a facilitator.
I thank the PMSA for supporting my aspirations and my research project. I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity.
Xavier (bottom left) with Bularaeyang Dance Company members after teaching their class

Xavier with friends, some of them exchange students from Australia and the US.
Scholarship takes engineering student to Chile

Madeline first fell in love with Chile six years ago during an exchange. Since then, she was looking for an opportunity to return when she came across the PMSLA programme and returned for an internship with Engineers Without Borders.

“It’s an international network of engineers who dedicate their time creating technologies for developing communities. We also develop training for Chilean engineering students so that communities are empowered into the future, long after the engineers leave.”

Check out her experience below.

For more information on PMSLA, including how to apply, click here.
ENZ events for 2019
All events can be found on the events calendar.
Registration
A number of events are now open for pre-registration and others will be opening over the coming weeks.
Sam Heeney, ENZ’s International Event Manager, notes a key change to registration.
“In 2019 we will be running a two-stage registration process for our events. This will ease the pressure caused by the previous first-come-first-served approach previously used, allowing us to ensure we have the right mix of institutions in the market to meet our student needs.”
Visit the events page for full details.

Pricing
Prices for these events remain unchanged (all exclude GST):
- Commercial fairs $2500
- New Zealand fairs $1500
- Agent seminars $250
Please contact events@enz.govt.nz with any questions.
Tokyo education fair showcases Māori culture
This was the fourth annual ENZ fair in Japan and included representatives from 40 New Zealand institutions as well as SIEBA representatives.
Misa Kitaoka, ENZ’s Senior Market Development Manager – Japan, said this year she wanted to make the fair special by incorporating an element that was uniquely New Zealand, but that also resonated with the Japanese attendees.
“Being part of Te Rautaki Māori, ENZ’s Māori Steering Committee, I have had the opportunity to learn some te reo and Māori cultural practices, which I realised has many commonalities with those of the Japanese,” said Misa.
The fair began with a mihi to welcome a group of junior high school students and teachers from Tokyo Seitoku University Junior and Senior High School, a private secondary school that sends all 150 of its year 3 junior high school students to New Zealand schools for one term every year.
Following the mihi, a group of over 30 students from Hamilton Boys’ and Girls’ High School performed a haka and waiata which brought tears to the eyes of many students and parents.
“The kapa haka performance increased visitor numbers for sure – it was such a moving performance. A student from Hamilton Boys’ who’s half Maori, half Japanese translated the meaning of each performance to attendees in Japanese, so impressive!
This year’s fair also saw an increasing number of mothers interested in taking their young children to New Zealand.
“With the Japanese government’s focus on improving the nation’s English language capability in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the average age of English learners in Japan is getting younger,” Misa said.
To address this demand, ENZ is working closely with SIEBA to promote its PSP programme, representing more than 40 primary schools available to receive international students over five years of age.
The ENZ Japan fair in 2019 will be held during the Rugby World Cup on 22 September 2019 followed by an agents/educators’ seminar and networking event in Tokyo on 24 September 2019.
For those interested in attending the fair, pre-registration is now open at ENZ Events page here.
Any New Zealand secondary school or tertiary institution bringing their kapa haka group on a tour to Japan next year and wish to perform at our fair, please email japan@enz.govt.nz.
ENZ social platforms gain momentum in China
ENZ opened its official Weibo (China’s equivalent of Twitter) and Wechat (a quasi-combination of Facebook and WhatsApp) account in August 2014. So far, we have around 60,000 followers on both platforms combined.
To increase numbers, at the annual China Education Expo in October, ENZ shared QR codes of our social media channels with visitors at the ENZ booths, accumulating 230 followers in two days. A similar approach at the China International Import Expo in November attracted a further 300 new followers.
ENZ also launched a WeChat mini-programme that helps followers to make use of the My StudyNZ tool to find and match with education providers in New Zealand.
ENZ’s Regional Director – China & North Asia, Adele Bryant, said these social platforms are a key way to connect with Chinese students. New Zealand Education Minister Chris Hipkins was very supportive of ENZ’s social media efforts during his visit to China in July.
“Despite his packed schedule, Minister Hipkins filmed a short video promoting New Zealand education to our social media communities, which was shared on the New Zealand Embassy WeChat account and received 750 views and likes.”
In addition to the social platforms, ENZ has developed a China-based student-facing website which will enable smoother access for Chinese students, parents and agents.
“The new website means students can find it in the Chinese search engine more easily as it is hosted in Chinese domain,” says Adele.
“We will launch the new website soon so stay logged on!”
If you are interested to find out more, search Education New Zealand in Chinese (新西兰教育国际推广局) to follow us on Weibo and WeChat.
Around the world in five
THAILAND
Reassessing the Thai education system
Thailand’s PISA scores have plunged. Among the challenges are the many celebrations and holidays that take children out of the classroom and the huge quantity of paperwork that reduces teachers’ ability to focus on students’ learning.
Read more

INDIA
IT superpower India has the world’s least tech-savvy classrooms
India’s classrooms are by and large outdated. Most Indian classrooms lag in incorporating smartphones, tablets, or even the simple whiteboard – over two-thirds of Indian classrooms surveyed use blackboards and chalk.
Read more

CHINA, UK
Over 500 teachers from China, UK exchange math teaching methods
Over the past four years, more than 500 teachers from China and the United Kingdom have participated in an exchange program enabling both sides to learn from each other's math teaching methods.
Read more

AUSTRALIA
Rainbow Hub launches LGBTQI video campaign
Brisbane’s Rainbow Hub initiative has launched a new video campaign to promote the city as a welcoming destination for LGBTQI+ international students and promote their services.
Read more

GREECE
Significant increase in U.S. students studying in Greece
There has been a significant increase in the number of American university students visiting Greece for study abroad programs in the 2016/17 academic year – a 21.1 percent increase from the previous academic year.
Read more
Calling all China research specialists
Since its inception in 2005, the Tripartite Fund has supported the development of strategic research relationships between New Zealand and China.
Universities are invited to submit proposals for the latest round, with up to $30,000 available per application to support quality, high-level research and collaboration. The fund seeks to initiate new tripartite partnerships and facilitate the development of existing partnerships between a New Zealand university and two Chinese partner universities.
Eligible Tripartite Fund subjects can be drawn from the arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences and applied sciences including agriculture, food safety, conservation, forestry, advanced materials engineering and environmental science.
The Tripartite Fund has enabled many high-achieving New Zealand academics to develop relationships with Chinese research partners.
Since 2009, Auckland University of Technology (AUT) has worked on tripartite collaborative projects with Shanghai Jiao-Tong University (SJTU) and Xinjiang University in China.
Nikola Kasabov, AUT Professor of Computer Science and Director KEDRI, said that the ‘three brothers’ partners have exchanged multiple visits of both staff members and students.
“The outcomes have been outstanding, including a large number of joint papers published in international journals and conferences, joint methods and software development in computational intelligence and applications in health, environment protection, and predicting hazardous events.”
Professor Kasabov was also appointed as Advisory Professor to SJTU, meeting with PhD students and staff on an annual basis.
“The collaboration helps staff and students to work together on new frontiers of information and computer sciences and technologies along with important applications for both countries.”
The deadline for applications is 1 March 2019, with a project start date of 1 May 2019, and end 30 April 2020.
Please complete the application form and submit it to china@enz.govt.nz