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  • From the Chief Executive: Importance of international students to New Zealand

    Just before Christmas, Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao filed its submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry into immigration policy settings.  

    ENZ has taken a strong stand in the detailed 15-page submission, refuting some statements made about international students in the Commission’s preliminary report, and pointing out that international students are different to other temporary migrants included in the inquiry.  

    In the submission we say international students should not be characterised as coming to New Zealand to seek employment, invest or run a business. Rather, international students coming to New Zealand support the achievement of the Government’s broader goals and objectives, as well as contributing to NZ’s economic development. More than two thirds of international students fund their studies through their families and their own savings and most international tertiary students have left New Zealand within five years of completing their studies. 

    The submission also discusses the broad benefits international students deliver for New Zealand, including regional development, research output, and strengthened bilateral relationships with other countries. 

    The Productivity Commission aims to present its final report to the Government in April 2022. 

    In other recent news, our international teams have recently completed several partnership agreements that will continue to sustain international education while our borders are closed. These include a research exchange agreement with DAAD (a major German academic exchange organisation), a science research agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and digital classroom cultural exchanges with South Korea. We also highlight the growing success of the NZ Global Competence Certificate during 2021.  These items are covered in more detail in this issue of E-News.

    He rā ki tua – Better days are coming! 

    Grant McPherson 
    Chief Executive, Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao 

  • International students report high satisfaction as New Zealand sees steady recovery in enrolments

    This year, 87 percent of students gave a positive rating of their overall experience, maintaining the upward trend seen in 2024 (86%). The proportion of students who rated their experience as ‘excellent’ rose to 43 percent, a two percent increase from the previous year. 

    These strong satisfaction results come as international student enrolments in New Zealand continue to grow. Between January and April 2025, 63,610 international students were enrolled with New Zealand education providers, a 16% increase compared to the same period in 2024 (54,690), and a 49% increase on 2023 (42,700). 

    All education subsectors saw growth, with Private Training Establishments (PTEs) showing the strongest increase at +41% compared to 2024. 

    China and India remained the top source markets, followed by Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, USA, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and Germany. Notably, Sri Lanka rose to fifth place (from ninth), and Nepal to seventh (from eleventh), reflecting shifting dynamics in student mobility. 

    What students value most  

    Students were most positive about the people and connections they made in New Zealand (92%), the quality of their education (90%), their arrival and orientation experience (89%), the ease of making study arrangements (87%), and their overall living experience (87%). 

    International students’ experiences of making study arrangements have notably improved, with 80 percent of students rating their experience with the visa application process positively (up from 78% in 2024), and 74% positively rating the time taken to get their visa (up from 64%). 

    Education New Zealand and Immigration New Zealand will continue to collaborate on provision of information to students to ensure an enhanced student experience. 

    The survey also shows an increasing proportion of international students regard New Zealand as offering good value for money, with positive perceptions rising from 65% to 76%. 

    Education New Zealand's Chief Executive, Amanda Malu, said the results reflect New Zealand’s ability to provide a high-quality education within an environment that fosters meaningful connections and relationships.

    “This is encouraging news for New Zealand. The fact that students continue to rate their experience here as excellent is a credit to our education providers and speaks to the warmth of the welcome our communities extend to international students,” she said.

    “We’re seeing a steady and encouraging recovery in international education. It’s not a boom, but a sign that our collective efforts are making a difference. What matters most is that students are not just coming to New Zealand, they’re having a high-quality experience that supports wellbeing and a sense of belonging.”

    “Under the International Education Going for Growth Plan, we’re focused on thoughtful, sustainable growth. These insights help us ensure that our progress is not just about numbers, but about delivering long-term value to students, communities, and the wider economy.”

    Education New Zealand’s Director Insights and Performance, Marie Clark, said the survey continues to be a key piece of work for ENZ and a useful tool for the international education sector. 

    “It remains the only national survey focused on international student experience in all subsectors in New Zealand. With several years of data now collected, we’re building a meaningful picture of student experience over time,” she said.  

    “The ability to break down insights by variables like country, sector, and gender makes the dataset especially useful. We expect the report and Tableau dashboards will be very practical resources for anyone working in the sector,” Clark added.  

     For further information: 

    • Sai Raje | Senior Communications Advisor, Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao 
      sai.raje@enz.govt.nz | +64 21 479 649 

    Notes to Editors: 

    About the New Zealand International Student Experience Survey 2025 

    The survey aims to better understand the overall experience of international students enrolled with New Zealand education providers, as well as recent graduates. It also identifies areas for improvement to enhance the student journey. 

    Fieldwork was conducted from 28 April to 19 May 2025 with 5,420 respondents across all education subsectors and stages of study. 

     About Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao 

    Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao (ENZ) is the government agency dedicated to helping New Zealand realise the social, cultural, and economic benefits of international education. Our role is to promote New Zealand as a high-quality education destination offering excellent education and student experiences.

    With approximately 85 staff in 13 locations around the world, ENZ works closely with New Zealand’s diverse education sector which includes schools, English language providers, Private Training Establishments, Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology Te Pūkenga), and universities.

    Internationally, we work with a range of education stakeholders, including government agencies and education providers to identify and encourage sustainable growth opportunities for New Zealand’s education sector.

  • MyStudy NZ WeChat mini programme gets a refresh

    MyStudy NZ is our intelligent matching tool which matches prospective students to courses and institutions in New Zealand based on a set of questions and areas of interest. It can be found on www.studyinnewzealand.govt.nz for our western markets.

    However, for our China market who predominantly use WeChat, we developed a mini programme for them in November 2018.

    The new version of the mini programme continues the original smart matching, but is more user-friendly and personalised, making it easy for students to obtain official information about application.

    How is 2.0 better than 1.0? We believe it’s better in eight different ways: 

    1. Social sharing enabled – Prospective students who come across their dream school can now share it to a WeChat friend or group chat immediately. The recipient can open the mini programme and view the details of the school as well.
    2. One-click authorisation – Students won’t have to fill in all the details to become a member anymore. With one click, prospective students can authorise their WeChat accounts to become registered MyStudy NZ members.
    3. Clear living costs displayed – Once prospective students get a match, they can expand and view the annual living costs in a pop-up window.
    4. You can see the latest content with added filter – Without registering, students can view the latest OA articles and filter based on views or posting date.
    5. UX (user experience) optimisation – Users can now choose paths when entering the mini programme.
    6. Complete UI (user interface) update – To remain consistent with the refreshed ‘I am New’ brand.
    7. New notifications – Push notifications will be sent to remind students to register, do course matching, bookmark favourite schools and talk to them.
    8. Speed optimisation and no more errors – We have done some coding optimisations and upgraded our server so the mini programme will load faster and users shouldn’t receive any more error messages.

  • [MIN SIGNED] 2425 292 ENZ Q4 report for 4 Apr 30 Jun 2025 (1) Redacted

  • From the CE: Board announces new ENZ CE

    Tēnā koutou katoa 

    Our Board yesterday announced the appointment of Amanda Malu (Ngāi Tahu) as our new Chief Executive. Amanda is currently Deputy Chief Executive Service Delivery at ACC, and formerly Chief Executive at Whānau Āwhina Plunket, leading that organisation through extensive change over six years in the role. She previously held senior marketing and communication roles including at the Tertiary Education Commission, and earlier in her career worked in marketing and international student recruitment in the polytechnic sector. Amanda will take up the role in September. Until then, I will continue as Acting Chief Executive.  

    This is excellent news. I am sure you will all join me in giving Amanda a very warm welcome to Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao and our international education community. 

    Amanda Malu has been appointed ENZ's new Chief Executive by ENZ's Board.

    To the visit of Premier Li. Last Friday I had the privilege of attending three events held as part of Premier Li’s visit to New Zealand. Significantly, Premier Li was accompanied by Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng who led a delegation of Chinese university senior leaders and senior education officials. This is Minister Huai’s second visit to New Zealand within 12 months following his engaging contribution to NZIEC Ki Tua 2023. This is a very special recognition of the close education ties between New Zealand and China. 

    ENZ's Acting Chief Executive Dr Linda Sissons greets Minister Huai with Minister Penny Simmonds and ENZ Regional Director & Counsellor, Greater China (Education), Michael Zhang, prior to the Education Forum (held at the Pullman Hotel, Auckland)

    Our Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills, Penny Simmonds and Minister Huai co-chaired a “Looking into the Future: High Level Education Forum”. The Forum was attended by 11 University Presidents from some of the most prestigious universities in China, and all eight of our university Vice-Chancellors. The Forum discussed themes spanning student and academic mobility, research partnerships, innovation and productivity and digital education. A compelling discussion topped off with the signing of twenty institution-level MOUs. 

    Minister Huai and Minister Simmonds open 'Looking into the Future: New Zealand - China High Level Education Forum

    And towards the end of the Forum, Premier Li, our Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, as well as the Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, joined the closing ceremony and took an active part in proceedings. This included the Prime Minister presenting the latest Prime Minister’s Scholarships to a group from Canterbury University heading to China and announcing the 2024 recipients of the New Zealand-China Tripartite Research Partnership Fund. Premier Li also announced allocations of scholarships for New Zealand Chinese Language teachers, summer camp places for New Zealand students and donations of Chinese language textbooks. 

     

    Prime Minister Rt Hon Christopher Luxon with Maia Hosking of the University of Auckland who will begin her programme in China under the Prime Minister's Scholarship for Asia.

    Premier Li (centre left) presents list of announcements to Prime Minister Rt Hon Christopher Luxon (centre right) on stage with six New Zealand students who received Chinese Language books

    To close the day, we accompanied our Minister, our Chinese and New Zealand university colleagues, and NZ Inc representatives to the Gala dinner where Prime Minister Luxon called out education among the other vital ties between China and New Zealand.  

    These special events proved a unique opportunity to showcase our high-quality education offering to China while demonstrating our commitment to enhancing student mobility and future education and research collaboration. It was fantastic. We can all be very proud of education’s contribution to this important relationship. 

    Ngā mihi nui,   

     

    Dr Linda Sissons 

    Acting Chief Executive 

    Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao 

     

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  • Contact us

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  • We want to hear from you!

    This survey is important to gauge ENZ’s performance and importantly, let us know how we’re doing, what services you value and what you’d like to see more of.   

    In last year’s survey, you highlighted several themes that we’ve been working to address. We heard that you need more advance notice of our global events to allow you to plan better. In response, we published our event calendar in November, covering events to be held in the last half of 2024. 

    You also said you wanted to see closer alignment between government agencies and the sector. As a result, we have worked with peak bodies and key government agencies to refresh the purpose of the quarterly Peak Body Forum and built a closer working relationship with the Alliance of Peak Bodies.  

    Other important themes included improving our engagement and integrating views of the sector in our planning, while providing more clarity on our range of services and support. We have provided more webinars ranging from showcasing the regions to the global agent network, through to leveraging research, data and analysis to provide you with targeted market insights.  

    Peak body and sector representatives were involved early in our business planning, including market prioritisation, to ensure that we walk in step with the sector. 

    While we may not always get it right, you can rest assured that we are listening and continually striving to deliver the products and services that you value and help you to grow.  

    A survey link will be sent out in early May. We look forward to hearing your thoughts to enable us to improve our support to the New Zealand international education sector. Thank you in advance for your participation.   

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