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Whānau 4 Life: New Zealand to Vermont
The pedestrians in Burlington, Vermont USA had no idea they would stumble upon haka and poi performances as they strolled up Church Street on a recent Saturday evening.
The North American Whānau Council held its second annual event which included a BBQ, a hike up Mt. Philo and a dinner with waiata (songs) before taking its performance to the streets of Burlington. There was also an emotional ceremony, where the co-presidency was passed to two successors.
The North American Whānau Council is an organisation that sustains the relationship between North Americans who have been positively affected by Māori culture during their study abroad experience at Auckland University of Technology. The relationships are re-established each year through the North American Whānau Council Weekend, which continues the cultural exchange between alumni and their Māori whānau, or family.
Teaching poi to the next generation of AUT Whānau at Mt. Philo
The initial concept of the Whānau Council was started by AUT alumni in Denmark, and soon expanded to other countries in the region to create the European Whānau Council. Members are AUT alumni who took classes offered by the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Development, and participated in the Noho Marae, a three-day event held at Ngā Wai o Horotiu Marae where AUT introduces international students to Māori culture, customs and the concept of ‘whānau’ or family.
Last year, two students from the University of Vermont (UVM) started the North American Whānau Council. AUT partners with two institutions in the Burlington area, which is one of the reasons why AUT whānau is so strong in Vermont.
The University of Vermont and AUT also have a partnership between their education departments. UVM students enrolled at AUT participate in a teaching internship at a primary school in Auckland, gaining a new perspective from the international setting. There have been more than 40 students in the programme over the last six years, with this year containing the largest cohort so far.
Dr Ellen Baker, head of UVM’s education department, says the international exchange has many benefits.
“Students can continue their professional trajectory, which is enriched by their experience in New Zealand. AUT has welcomed them through the orientation and the Noho Marae experience – students immediately feel a part of the community.”
Jason King, Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Maori & Indigenous Development, AUT with the North American Whānau Council on top of Mt. Philo
Dr. George Burrill, Trustee to Champlain College and the Honorary Consul from New Zealand to Vermont, encouraged Champlain College to offer scholarships for a reciprocal exchange between Champlain and AUT students. At a recent awards luncheon, Connor, a scholarship student from Champlain College, told how despite his busy academic schedule at AUT he also coached a boys’ basketball team, and was also able to find time to explore New Zealand where he “geeked out for a few days and was a hobbit in Middle Earth,” exploring all the way down to Queenstown. Connor ended his speech with gratitude for the scholarship opportunity.
“I thank you once, I thank you twice, I thank you a thousand times for helping me in my journey. This opportunity has truly changed my life and the memories I made will not be forgotten.”
Thank you to the North American Whānau Council and the AUT staff for allowing me to join the Whānau in Burlington for the weekend.
Key takeaways
• Alumni are very eager to share their stories and participate in alumni events.
“I never get sick of talking about New Zealand.” – Monica
• Before students leave New Zealand, ask them how they will stay connected. The education graduates at UVM are developing a unit on Māori history and culture to teach in their classrooms.
“Most incredible semester I’ve ever had.” – Megan
• Connect your alumni with your contact at their international office so they can talk to prospective students during orientation, info sessions or a study abroad fairs.
Students are the driving force of alumni events abroad. Even when US students only come to New Zealand for one semester, their connection to Māori culture and the people of New Zealand lasts a lifetime thanks to the welcoming and positive learning culture.
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Happy birthday, SIEBA!
Today, the Schools International Education Business Association (SIEBA) has over 400 member schools. This membership hosts about 90 percent of all of international students at New Zealand schools.
As recently as 2014, there was no peak body for schools wanting to participate in international education – but not for a lack of demand.
In the same year, Education New Zealand (itself only three years at the time), set out to co-create Strategic Roadmaps with the sector. One of the biggest things to come out of our consultation with the schools sector was that they wanted their own peak body.
ENZ’s Business Development Manager for the schools sector, Mary Camp, described ENZ’s early investment as a “no-brainer”.
Now, SIEBA is completely self-sufficient financially, but ENZ’s relationship with them remains strong.
“Our relationship has been constructive, transparent and extremely successful,” Mary says. “Some examples of are work together are the Korean and Chilean government scholarship schemes and educating agents offshore.”
When COVID-19 turned the world upside down, the importance of SIEBA was underlined.
“SIEBA has been the go-to for the schools sector,” Mary says. “We are working closely with SIEBA, like all of our peak bodies, as part of the COVID-19 recovery and sector rebuild.”
SIEBA Executive Director John van der Zwan says he is immensely proud to have had the opportunity to work with New Zealand’s schools community.
“I am constantly encouraged by the work people do in the school sector, and by the amazing commitment that schools make to support the young students from around the world that come to New Zealand to learn,” he says. “All of us at SIEBA are so fortunate to be a part of a very special group of people in a very special area of education.”
John has been involved with the organisation since its inception. He was part of the working group that prepared a proposal seeking support from the school sector for a peak body in 2014.
To help SIEBA get off the ground, John was appointed as Interim Executive Director in 2015 before moving into the permanent role a year later.
“The biggest achievement for me has been working with some wonderful people to get SIEBA to a position where we are recognised, not only for how we support schools day to day, but for being prepared and ready for the role we are about play in leading our sector through the biggest crisis we will ever face,” he says.
“The SIEBA team has worked hard to know our business, build a strong reputation, develop valuable relationships with our partners and be in a great position to lead the work that lies ahead.”
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New international education strategy for Te Pūkenga
Chief Executive Stephen Town says the strategy supports a high-quality, sustainable education offering focused on ākonga (learner) experience and wellbeing.
“We have a unique opportunity to move from a model of competition to an integrated and collaborative approach, with a single brand, tailored to international markets and a single strategy aligned with the Government’s International Education Strategy,” Mr Town says.
The strategy aims to create more pathways to global citizenship, diversifying markets and creating high value for learners, employers and community.
The strategy is aligned with the New Zealand International Education Strategy and has five key areas of focus:
- creating and supporting skilled and culturally competent global ākonga
- adding significant value to the Aotearoa New Zealand community
- aligning learning outcomes to the needs of employers
- creating valuable strategic partnerships within and outside of Aotearoa New Zealand
- giving expression to our Te Tiriti o Waitangi relationship that exists between the Crown and Māori to improve outcomes for Māori through delivering partnership, protection, participation, and equity.
Te Pūkenga - New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology - is Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest tertiary institution and one of the largest providers of tertiary education in the world. Established in 2020, Te Pūkenga is bringing together the country’s Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs) and Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) to create a network of on-the-job, on campus, online, and offshore learning opportunities through a unified network.
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Around the world in five
Global
The global rankings season is now in full force, with this being the first time that three major releases have occurred within 24 hours. The results highlight the transformation that is occurring across higher education worldwide.
United States of America
United States President Donald J Trump has asked Congress to cut funding for basic research by more than one-third in the budget year beginning in October, according to an analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Australia
The latest data on student visa grants and applications from Australia’s Department of Home Affairs shows a decrease overall for the international education sector and ELICOS and vocational visas at record lows, following the implementation of higher visa fees and a new visa priority system.
United Kingdom
In response to the growing concerns around quality assurance, ethical practice, and accountability in recruitment, a number of destination countries are introducing formal frameworks and codes of conduct to govern the activities of education agents.
Canada
Canadian universities have welcomed the government’s planned audit of the international student programme to strengthen processes and integrity, and to reinforce public trust in the system.
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Regional Partners’ workshop a triumph
In August, Ms Favaloro joined an Education New Zealand regional partners’ workshop to lead sessions on pathways, stakeholder engagement and the art of visual storytelling.
The 15 regional education organisations represented shared their insights, learned about regional education trends and heard about Study Melbourne’s initiatives and success.
“It was absolutely inspirational to spend time with Jane. She really gave me a sense of what we should be aspiring to and how we might get there,” said Bree Loverich, Programme Manager for Canterbury Leadership Accord and Christchurch Educated.
Study Melbourne was established in 2006. For over 10 years, international education has been Victoria's largest services export industry, generating more than $46 billion for the economy. Victoria is now considered Australia’s designated ‘Education State’ with over 175,000 students studying there annually.
Greg Scott, Regional Programme Manager for ENZ, believes there are many reasons for providers to connect with their regional education organisations, chief among them:
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Regional growth offers real benefits for education providers, regional economies, communities and students.
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Education providers can grow their international programme by sharing regional marketing economies of scale, and gaining greater access in international markets using regional partnerships.
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Regions offer distinctive opportunities for students to align their learning to employment opportunities and pathways to skilled residency.
"It was a pleasure to spend time learning how teams can convert a 'barrier' into an 'opportunity' when put into a room for a day and encouraged to engage,” said Jane Favaloro about the workshop.
“I look forward to hearing of the successes and, in the not so distant future, creating a superior student experience that targets specific international markets and enables mobility between Victoria and New Zealand."
Find out more about the Regional Partnership Programme here.
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“Feedback is a gift” - Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao’s 2023 Sector Survey
We would like to thank the many respondents who took the time to answer the survey, including universities, schools, Private Training Establishments, English Language Schools, education product and services companies, Te Pūkenga, peak bodies, and regional economic development agencies.
Undertaken annually, the survey helps ENZ to understand what is important to the sector, what services and support provide the most value, and where there are opportunities for ENZ to improve our offerings.
In 2023, 73% of the sector agreed that ENZ’s services and support over the past year had added value to their organisation, Business and market advice and E-News were ranked as the most useful services.
Areas such as ENZ’s in-market advice and informed intelligence were highlighted as being helpful to the sector in making timely, informed decisions, as is the support to re-establish and consolidate presence in existing markets while exploring new growth opportunities. The opportunities that ENZ provides for international partnerships was also highlighted as helpful.
The survey is also important in identifying the areas in which the sector would like ENZ to focus more. This included more advance notice on upcoming events and opportunities, providing more clarity on the range of services and support available and building more strategic partnerships across the wider sector.
Sharon-May McCrostie, ENZ’s Director of Sector Engagement said that while this survey is held annually, ENZ welcomes ongoing feedback on how ENZ can best support the New Zealand international education sector to grow.
“These surveys are considered an important scorecard for us to understand where we are meeting expectations with our stakeholders but also opportunities to improve our support to the sector.
“Looking ahead to 2024, the sector has said it would like to see us improve our engagement around integrating views of the sector in our planning and promoting the value that the international education sector brings to NZ,” added Sharon-May.
For information on ENZ’s digital tools, resources, and insights available to the NZ international education sector, check out MaiENZ.
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2016 International Student Experience Survey for PTEs and English language providers
Find out how your institution performs compared to national and international benchmarks in terms of:
• overall satisfaction and recommendation
• the arrival experience – satisfaction with the arrival experience in New Zealand and at their institution
• the learning experience – satisfaction with their course of study, subject choice, learning environment and resources
• the living experience – satisfaction with such things as accommodation, living costs and day-to-day life
• support services – satisfaction with support services.If you participated in the 2012 or 2014 studies, see how your results have changed over time.
Participation in the study is free for institutions. If you would like to take part, please complete the registration form as soon as possible but no later than 7th October 2016.
More information about the 2016 International Student Experience Survey (including reports from the 2014 study) is available in the Frequently Asked Questions document.
Or, please don’t hesitate to contact Kyla Steenhart, Director, i-graduate New Zealand for more details – kyla.steenhart@i-graduate.org or +64 21 857 054.
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International students dig deep
The student volunteers were a mix of high school (Shirley Boys High School, St Bedes College and Riccarton High School) and university students (Ara Institute of Canterbury, Lincoln University and University of Canterbury), said Izzie Guo, Student Experience Coordinator, Canterbury International Education Leadership Accord and Christchurch Educated.
“There was also a great mix of cultures, with students coming from China, India, Japan, Russia, Thailand, Botswana and Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Philippines, Malaysia and New Zealand,” she said.
The students took around two hours to plant 500 native plants, including rushes and sedges.
“The international students learned about native bush, while several locals stopped by to talk to the internationals and learn about the reasons they were in Christchurch, and how they were enjoying studying and living in New Zealand,” Izzie said.
The event was followed by a Kiwi-style BBQ thanks to the Christchurch City Council park ranger involved, Robbie Hewson. It finished with a soccer game, where team China and Japan competed with team Russia and New Zealand.
“After the BBQ, some of the students walked around the Sister City gardens at the quarry – they were very excited to see that the garden was built to signify the relationships between their countries and Christchurch.
”I had a wonderful time!” said Omar Sheta, from Egypt who is studying at Riccarton High School. “I met lovely people from different parts of the world, we volunteered together as one, chatted and played soccer together.
"It was definitely a fun and meaningful experience for all,” said Sigred Yamit, a Filipino who is studying at the University of Canterbury.
“Not only were we able to contribute a bit to the local gardens and community, but we also made new friends. Everyone had a great time and tons of selfies were taken at the end of the day."
This event was supported Christchurch Educated International Student Association and Ara’s student events team.
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From the CE: Successful start to packed promotions season
Kia ora koutou,
We are diving into the busiest and most energising time of year – promotions, recruitment, and global engagements are in full swing.
In late August, ENZ teamed up with around 65 New Zealand education providers to successfully deliver our flagship New Zealand education student fair and education agent seminar in Bangkok.
It was fantastic to see record attendance at the fair that offered prospective students and parents hands-on experience of New Zealand’s learner-centred teaching style through five simulated classrooms. Don’t miss the full story about the impact of our promotions in Thailand in this newsletter.
Earlier this month, I was pleased to represent New Zealand and support international education in Gothenburg, Sweden, at the EAIE: European Association for International Education Conference 2025, which is among the most important global gatherings for international educators, government agencies, and academic leaders.
The conference was a valuable opportunity for New Zealand education providers to connect with peers, promote our offerings, and build meaningful partnerships.
With all eight universities and UP Education exhibiting at the New Zealand pavilion, we packed the week with meetings, events, and brand-building — forging new partnerships and showcasing the strength of our education system.
In London, I joined a thought-provoking panel discussion on evolving student demand at the ICEF Monitor Global Summit. It was an insightful discussion that prompted some great questions from the audience about the opportunities and challenges in this area for New Zealand.
Preparations are now in full swing for our attendance at the China Annual Conference and Expo for International Education (CACIE), where New Zealand is proud to be Country of Honour for 2025.
The conference is a prime opportunity to highlight our education partnerships in China and reaffirm our commitment to future collaborations with China.
I look forward to sharing more about our planned conference engagements in my next update – stay tuned!
Ēhara tāku toa i te toa takatahi, engari he toa takitini
Our strength does not come from us alone but as a collective
Ngā mihi nui,
Amanda Malu
Chief Executive
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PIF Recipient: Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi
Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi is one of New Zealand’s three wānanga - publicly owned tertiary institutions which provide education in a uniquely Māori cultural context. Awanuiārangi has been engaging internationally for over a decade, delivering postgraduate programmes to Indigenous communities in Washington State and Hawaii, and establishing networks and alliances with Indigenous communities and education providers across the United States.
Now, a new project led by Awanuiārangi is set to accelerate Indigenous education outcomes globally and build on New Zealand’s position as a global leader in postgraduate Indigenous education. ‘Iwi taketake’ (Indigenous people) is a project that will see the development of an international Indigenous curriculum for postgraduate study, covering master’s degrees, postgraduate certificates and diplomas, through to doctoral qualifications.
The target audience for the programme is Indigenous college graduates based at Hawai’i, Washington State, Canada and Australia, with Indigenous college graduates and tribal communities across the United States also in focus. A key objective of the new model is to design an education offering that fits the learner, rather than requiring learners to fit the programme.
Awanuiārangi will take its model of working with local hapū, iwi and their representative organisations in Aotearoa to the four focus areas in the Unites States, where it has already established networks. Iwi taketake will be the result of a co-construction process with Indigenous organisations and potential scholars, with an in-person wānanga (symposium) taking place at each delivery site in the United States.
After the curriculum is developed, endorsed and approved by key stakeholders, Awanuiārangi aims to run Iwi taketake for its first cohort of scholars in 2024, through a blended mix of in-person and online learning across the four sites. The programmes that form the Iwi taketake curriculum may be co-badged - awarded jointly by Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and partners offshore, such as the University of Washington Tacoma and the University of Hawai’i Maui College.
Awanuiārangi’s model will affirm the notion that postgraduate education can provide Indigenous scholars with pathways for purpose-led careers that benefit people, place and planet. The subject areas and kaupapa (initiatives) covered by the curriculum will be delivered in a culturally safe environment, respecting Indigenous research ethics and methodologies. Scholars will draw learning directly from their own communities with the support of Awanuiārangi and their local delivery partners, ensuring that programmes are highly relevant to learners’ cultural and social contexts.
The collaborative, co-constructed programme will also serve to strengthen Indigenous links and alliances between New Zealand and the United States more generally, and open further opportunities for collaboration and improving educational success in postgraduate study.
Iwi taketake is one of the initiatives supported by the International Education Product Innovation Fund, a New Zealand Government-funded initiative to reimagine what a New Zealand education can look like and mean for global learners. Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao is New Zealand’s government agency dedicated to international education, and is the kaitiaki (guardian) of the Product Innovation Fund.
The Fund is supporting a range of pilot projects that develop and test new education products and services for global learners. Awanuiārangi’s pilot project explores how New Zealand’s strengths in Indigenous education can be delivered to international learners, tailored to Indigenous communities in other countries, and delivered in a blended medium, while uplifting all parties and helping strengthen Indigenous connections and cooperation across the Pacific.
More information:
Learn more about Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi
*Image at top of page: TWWoA's Professor Mera Penehira with Big Island of Hawaii cohort of doctoral students: Katie Benioni, Nancy Levenson, Noekeonaona Kirby and Taffi Wise.
