Search
Showing 10 of 1890 results for how to register international groups
-
A word from the Minister
It has been, and continues to be, an extremely challenging time for many of New Zealand’s universities, schools, polytechnics and institutes of technology, as well as private providers and English language schools with our border closed.
But I think we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I anticipate we will have a further 12-18 months of disruption before we see a future where much of that will start to fade. The recent news of promising vaccines against COVID-19 is very encouraging. It’s difficult to share an exact timeline with you all as we need to consider vaccination around the rest of the world and international supply chains.
Over the next 12 months, I expect to see a series of progressive changes. That could look like a risk tolerance map of the world for countries that we have safe travel zones with, or for countries we have lower isolation requirements for when they arrive, for example.
While we are looking to move as quickly as possible on the border, it is very unlikely that there will be one magic day where we cut a ribbon at the airport and all travellers will be welcomed in.
We have made a start and granted an exemption for a cohort of 250 postgraduate (largely PhD) students to enter New Zealand from early next year to continue their study. And we’ll consider further cohorts in the future, based on capacity.
This government will continue to support the sector through our Recovery Plan for international education.
The recent New Zealand Global Pathways initiative that New Zealand universities, ENZ and NCUK have entered into is a very welcome development. It’s the first time that ENZ and all the universities have been involved in such a partnership. It’s encouraging and it’s the sort of innovation that we are looking for during this period of difficulty.
International education has been good for New Zealand – not just economically, but culturally and socially too. I look forward to waving the flag for New Zealand internationally and at home too. New Zealand has such an incredible, high-value education to offer to the rest of the world.
Meri Kirihimete,
Chris Hipkins
Minister of Education
-
From the CE: A monumental year
Tēnā koutou katoa,
December already! Where did the past 12 months go?
The good news is that the effort that you have all put into this sector, that we are all so passionate about, has delivered results. My team tell me that enrolments for the first eight months of 2023, and the 12 months since the borders opened, have almost topped 60,000 (59,306 to be exact) and that the number of visa applications is much higher. From where we were when the borders opened this is significant and tangibly real, positive progress. It is also a positive indication for the future as many of these learners will be staying on into next year and are the foundation on which we can build further growth.
That said there is still much to do.
The recovery is not spread evenly across all sector participants and not spread evenly across New Zealand. While, at the time of writing, ENZ is yet to receive its letter of expectation from the new Government, international education was included as a manifesto focus area and I expect we will get very clear direction as to our role in continuing the recovery. This is good news too. Getting clear direction from Government enables us to know exactly what is expected and to focus our efforts accordingly.
In the short time that I have been in the CEO role, I have come to understand the importance of focus. There has never been and never will be a shortage of opportunities when it comes to international education. It is a matter of identifying the opportunity that delivers the impact and focusing our attention there. I look forward to receiving the new Government’s direction and delivering to it alongside our many partners.
The past 12 months have also been significant in the area of scholarships – the Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia and Latin America and the Manaaki New Zealand Scholarship Programme. Our scholarship programme was also bought to a standstill by COVID-19 and is itself recovering and recovering well. In 2023 more than 250 New Zealanders have been recipients of a Prime Minister’s Scholarship and more than 900 people from across the Pacific and Asia have participated in the Manaaki New Zealand Scholarship Programme with another 400 in the pipeline. As you know, ENZ administers these on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Both programmes successfully build enduring connections between New Zealand and our offshore partners and contribute to our communities here at home.
For all of us, our colleagues and our whānau, 2023 has been a monumental year. There is much that we can, and should, look back on with pride and satisfaction. On behalf of everyone at ENZ, I’d like to thank you for your support and for the huge amount of effort and work that has been achieved this year. I look forward to working with you in 2024 to continue the momentum towards an international education sector that is sustainable, resilient, and innovative, and of high value for students, providers, and all of New Zealand.
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi engari he toa takitini
It is not the strength of one person alone, but the strength of many that contribute to our success.
Ngā mihi,
Linda Sissons
Acting Chief Executive -
Proposed changes to Export Education Levy
Currently, international education providers pay a flat fee of $185 per provider and 0.45 per cent of international tuition fee revenues.
The Ministry of Education proposes to reduce the percentage rate and remove the flat fee component, so providers pay less. The Ministry also proposes to allocate some funds from the EEL on a variety of additional activities over the next few years – with an initial focus on initiatives to improve the wellbeing and safety of international students in New Zealand.
You can find more information as well as the full version of the EEL consultation discussion document on the Ministry’s website.
The Ministry welcomes any input on the proposed changes by 8 September by email, post or via its EEL online survey.
-
Teaching the teachers
The School Influencers Workshop series focuses on new ideas in Early Childhood Education, English Language teaching and educational management and leadership. Originally planned to be delivered in-person, this is the first time the course will be held online.
Members of the UC College of Education, Health and Human Development will deliver the online courses to more than 100 education practitioners and administrators alongside in-market organisations Teach for Indonesia and Teach for the Philippines.
UC Associate Dean (International), Dr Stuart Wise, said “The College of Education, Health and Development at the University of Canterbury is delighted to support this initiative sponsored by Education New Zealand. We are very keen to support our colleagues at Teach for Indonesia and Teach for Philippines are looking forward to the opportunity to engage with course participants and share some of our expertise with them.”
The professional development of teachers has been a key part of ENZ’s South East Asia engagement strategy since 2016.
“The School Influencers Workshop series gives teachers and administrators a taste of New Zealand’s top-quality education by offering an insight into our hands-on teaching methodologies and contact with top academics,” ENZ Market Manager Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines, Desiree Lee, said.
“Teachers, counsellors and school leaders remain a key group of influencers in a student’s study journey. They are an important group which ENZ will continue to engage as the international education sector recovers from COVID-19.”
Read the UC story on the Schools Influencers Workshop series
-
Regional partners’ workshop goes to Hawke’s Bay
The workshop is an initiative of ENZ’s Regional Partnership Programme (RPP), and drew a group of more than 20 regional coordinators from across the country. The RPP is a part of a strategic focus by ENZ to grow the value of international education across the whole of New Zealand as part of the effort to grow the industry’s value to $5 billion by 2025.
“The aim of the workshop was for participants to share experiences and receive professional development to increase their effectiveness in working with education providers in their regions,” said Greg Scott, ENZ’s Regional Partnership Programme Manager.
Topics included:
-
Product development
-
Inbound familiarisation planning
-
The upcoming regional digital resource
-
Increasing awareness of the value of international education in regional communities.
Participants enjoyed a range of presentations including lively show-and-tell sessions from Education Wellington and Education Hawke’s Bay, as well as an update from Karen Chalmers, NZQA’s Director International and Policy.
The day before the workshop, a smaller group of new regional coordinators came together at an ENZ-facilitated orientation session. They learned more about the RPP, contributed to an interactive business plan workshop, and heard some first-hand insights from Education Taranaki’s Rachael Berndt.
Greg said feedback about both days was extremely positive.
“We've seen a good number of regions join the RPP over the last 12 months, and there is a significant increase in regional growth initiatives as a result of the formation and implementation of their strategies.”
-
-
International student FAQs
The newly-launched FAQs cover study choices, applications, accommodation and finance, as well as questions on living, working and travelling in New Zealand. The content is timely, verified and sorted by categories.
Lucia Alarcon, ENZ’s International Digital Project Manager, said reviewing the FAQs involved listening closely to the international student audience and finding out what they most wanted to know.
“The updated questions were based on ENZ’s common student inquiries, and on the most searched-for questions in search engines and on the online Q&A site Quora,” she said.
“We’ve also added links from the answers to other parts of the website, encouraging students to further explore the wealth of useful content we have about studying in New Zealand.”
The FAQ content has been updated, expanded and fully optimised for internet search to ensure it ranks highly in search engine results. The How to Apply section of the website also links to the FAQs to give the page more visibility to interested students.
Lucia expects the expanded FAQs will be a valuable tool not only to support student inquiries but to drive the number of student referrals to institutions.
“It’s all part of our ongoing review of SiNZ to make it more relevant, helpful and outcome-driven,” she said.
-
Celebrating the University of Auckland’s 140-year journey in China
The University of Auckland recently commemorated its 140-year journey in China with a series of events held in six major cities across China, including Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. The celebrations took place from the 12th to 22nd May and were co-hosted by the University of Auckland, the University of Auckland International College (UP Education) and the University of Auckland English Language Academy. Education New Zealand’s Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ) China based team provided on-the ground support throughout the ten days of events.
Michael Zhang, ENZ’s Regional Director for Greater China noted the success of the commemorations in showcasing the study experience at New Zealand’s biggest university while fostering connections with agents and prospective students in China.
“Marking this anniversary milestone for the University of Auckland in China was a special occasion and proved a good opportunity for the University to rebuild international education connections with its Chinese stakeholders, highlighting its programmes and offerings.
“ENZ enjoyed being part of the celebrations, helping facilitate reconnections, and it was a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness for New Zealand amongst agents and parents. This was the largest New Zealand provider-hosted series of events in the post-Covid era in China,” said Michael.
Beyond providing updated information about academic programmes, the events also featured inspiring testimonials from alumni in China who shared their study experiences at the University of Auckland. Promoting such narratives helps to further strengthen New Zealand and the University’s reputation and influence in China.
The resounding success of the events and the positive response from attendees reflect the strong recovery of the international education sector, including for New Zealand as a destination, in China.
Standing room only at the Beijing students’ information session
-
From the CE: The outlook for the future
Many of you are wondering – and fielding a lot of questions – about the outlook for the future as COVID-19 continues to disrupt the world.
It’s very important to acknowledge that COVID-19 is an unprecedented event in our lifetime. While there have been crises, disasters, wars and terrorist attacks, none have had the scale, impact or complexity of this global pandemic. There is little certainty as the world navigates its way through this and looks to the development of effective vaccines to counter its impact.
As New Zealand’s Director-General of Health advises, COVID-19 is a very tricky virus and we have to be very vigilant. The Government is continuing to take a balanced approach to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of everyone in New Zealand and to carefully manage demand on the country’s quarantine facilities. We aren’t out of the woods yet and can’t be complacent.
Like many other countries, New Zealand’s border restrictions remain in place. The Government is granting entry to small, targeted cohorts by exception only, and only these visas are being processed. Students are not able to apply for a student visa from outside New Zealand, unless a border exception applies. This decision will be reviewed in February 2021.
Last month we saw the Government recognise the vital role international education will play in the recovery and rebuild of New Zealand and the need to continue the fight against the pandemic. The Minister of Education announced that the Government would allow a small cohort of up to 250 postgraduate (mostly PhD) students into New Zealand. These are students whose study has been interrupted by COVID-19 and who have a practical research component to their study that requires them to be here. Providers are currently selecting these students and they are expected to enter New Zealand earlier next year.
We acknowledge that this exception applies to a fraction of the number of students we normally welcome to the country. Some students and providers may be disappointed not to have been a part of this first border exception group.
The Government says it will review further possible border exceptions to enable more cohorts to enter the country, as and when the time is right, and to then build up numbers when it’s safe for all to do so. But no further decisions around cohorts have been made at this stage.
So, given this information, we won’t see normal numbers of students entering the country in time for term one or semester one next year. I suggest that tertiary students consider starting or continuing their New Zealand study online, until there is more certainty on border exceptions. Students and their families are advised to keep in close contact with their agent or study provider.
But throughout this uncertainty, I can assure you that New Zealand highly values international students and looks forward to their return. Until then, the team at Education New Zealand will continue to tell you as much as we can about the situation here, as soon as we can.
Ehara taku toa I te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini.
My strength is not that of a single warrior but that of many.
Ngā mihi,
Grant McPherson
-
High-level delegation visit strengthens education relationship with India
The New Zealand India Education Week – held from 17-22 April – included senior level participation from New Zealand universities and was designed to further strengthen the strategic education partnership with India.
Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ) Chief Executive, Grant McPherson, led the delegation across New Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.
Demonstrating New Zealand’s overall commitment to India, New Zealand announced an investment of $400,000 towards internationalisation and student mobility initiatives, including the relaunch of the New Zealand Excellence Awards (NZEA).
The NZEA are unique scholarships designed exclusively for Indian students that are jointly funded by ENZ and all New Zealand universities. Since their launch in 2016, the scholarships have enabled more than 200 Indian students to study at one of New Zealand’s universities.
Another key focus for the week was to re-engage with the New Zealand Centre at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and discuss the future trajectory of the partnership.
New Zealand High Commissioner to India His Excellency Mr David Pine speaking at a meeting with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
Caption: Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao Chief Executive, Grant McPherson (right), thanking Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) outgoing Dean International Naveen Garg (left) for hosting the NZ delegation at IIT.
Erik Lithander, Deputy Vice Chancellor Strategic Engagement at the University of Auckland, signed an MoU with IIT Delhi on behalf of all New Zealand universities to continue the relationship and further develop the New Zealand Study Centre.
The New Zealand Study Centre was inaugurated at IIT Delhi in February 2020 by Deputy PM Winston Peters, demonstrating the importance of education as a key part of the India-New Zealand relationship.
The week was bookended by two education agent fairs in New Delhi and Mumbai respectively, both of which exceeded expected student attendance numbers.
Speaking at a media briefing held at the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi during the New Zealand India Education Week, ENZ CE Grant McPherson underlined the importance of New Zealand’s education partnership with India.
“India is one of New Zealand’s priority partner countries for collaborations, exchanges, and student mobility. We are excited that the announcements around the New Zealand Centre strengthening and the extensive package of scholarships under the New Zealand Excellence Awards scheme will further engagement with India,” Grant said.
ENZ Regional Director – Asia, Ben Burrowes, said with the sector’s focus on recovery and reconnections, the New Zealand India Education Week provided a great opportunity to refresh relationships with education sector stakeholders in India.
“India has always been a strong partner to New Zealand in the education space, and students from India consistently make up the second largest portion of international students studying in New Zealand.
“We are delighted for the opportunity that the New Zealand India Education Week offered us to reconnect and refresh our education links with India, and we look forward to building this relationship further over the coming years.”
Additional info –
To begin the week, sector representatives were provided with in-depth insights into the India-New Zealand relationship from High Commissioner David Pine, ENZ in-market staff and a consultant from EY. Representatives attended meetings with government departments such as the University Grants Commission (UGC) as well as B2B institutional networking events to support their university's global engagement. The delegation also met with two Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), IIT Delhi and IIT Madras.
-
Education New Zealand has another successful year in Japan
The series began with a reception for the 30th anniversary of the Auckland-Fukuoka sister city relationship. Sir Bob Harvey from Auckland Council and Mr Soichiro Takashima, Mayor of Fukuoka City, were among the 120 guests who attended to celebrate the friendship and education exchange. The group also enjoyed a powerful haka performance by 20 students from Fukuoka’s Seiryo High School, who visited Auckland Grammar School in August this year for the Game On English Rugby programme.
While in Fukuoka, ENZ held an education fair with exhibitions from 30 New Zealand providers and organisations. The fair had more than 300 visitors – many of whom queued to speak to New Zealand representatives about their study options. ENZ’s Senior Market Development Manager – Japan, Misa Pitt, said the interest was not surprising, given the variety of New Zealand education programmes on show.
Education fair in Fukuoka
A second fair was also held in Tokyo, with a record number of over 600 visitors, followed by an education seminar with over 100 Japanese agents, schools and tertiary institutions.“While our competitors’ fairs tend to focus on one particular sector, we have an advantage by offering a wide range of innovative programmes from all sectors,” said Misa Pitt.
The interest in the seminar reflects an increase in engagement from Japanese institutions in international education – as well as the Japanese government’s internationalisation policy, intended to support their forthcoming sports hosting duties.
“With the 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Olympics coming up, more Japanese students are interested in programmes that combine English and professional training in sports, tourism and hospitality,” said Misa Pitt.
Misa also revealed that the debut involvement of the Schools International Education Business Association (SIEBA, the peak body for schools in the international education space) in Japan increased New Zealand’s credibility in market, particularly in relation to pastoral care.
“With the new Code of Practice introduced in July this year, I believe SIEBA will play a key role in connecting New Zealand secondary schools with Japanese agents and institutions.”
Japan’s event series concluded with an alumni reception in Tokyo, with special guests including New Zealand Ambassador to Japan, Stephen Payton, and Michael Leitch, a Christchurch native who, after studying in Japan, now plays for the Japanese national rugby team. Michael gave a moving speech on the similarities between New Zealand and Japanese culture, as well as the importance of overseas education in building character for young people.
Education fair in Tokyo.
