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New Zealand tops English-speaking countries in Educating for the Future ranking again

New Zealand retained its ranking from 2018, with an overall score of 79.9, close behind Sweden (84.3) and Finland (84.8), which topped the rankings.

New Zealand achieved a top score in the index’s socio-economic environment category, which measures how education systems expose their students to global values such as gender equality, civic freedom, and diversity and tolerance.

The index’s socio-economic environment category compares freedom of religion and the press, gender equality, attitudes toward immigrants, and protecting the environment.

“High-income economies have the most open societies and are therefore conducive to learning future-oriented skills,” the EIU 2019 report said.

New Zealand also ranked among the top five countries in the education policy environment category, which tracked economies focusing on critical thinking, digital skills and soft skills as part of the secondary school curriculum.

“It’s a fantastic result for New Zealand to have retained our top global ranking in the English-speaking world as well as the Asia-Pacific region,” ENZ Chief Executive Grant McPherson said.

“It’s great to see New Zealand do so well in the index’s socio-economic environment category that measures exposure to global values such as diversity and tolerance.

“Future skills are vital to advancing these global values.”

The index assesses the effectiveness of education systems in preparing students for the demands of work and life in a rapidly changing landscape.

It focuses on young people aged 15-24 in 50 economies, and measures three pillars of education systems – policy approaches, teaching conditions and broader gauges of societal freedom and openness – as a means of readying young people to meet the challenges of work and society in future.

Read the full report at this link.

The top 10 country rankings (2019 Educating for the Future Index) were:

Rank	Economy	Score
1	Finland	84.8
2	Sweden	84.3
3	New Zealand	79.9
4	Singapore	79.7
5	Netherlands	79.2
6	Canada	79.1
7	Switzerland	78.5
8	Australia	77.8
9	Germany	74.9
10	Japan	74.2

New scholarship programme highlights NZ as global leaders in agricultural climate change
The new scholarship called the New Zealand Global Research Alliance Doctoral Scholarships (NZ-GRADS) programme will see six science students from developing countries complete their PhDs at a New Zealand university.
"New Zealand is a global leader on climate change. As part of that leadership role, we’ve created these scholarships to support global efforts to tackle climate change and foster the next generation of climate scientists. We need to ensure the world’s brightest minds have access to our world-class education,” Mr O’Connor said.
Funding for the new scholarships is being provided by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), in support of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA).
The GRA focuses on improving agricultural productivity and production efficiency while addressing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and food security. It also facilitates a wide range of capability building and research programmes.
“New Zealand is a founding member and key contributor to the GRA. Our role is at the core of our global leadership on climate change”, he said.
“Our leadership is well recognised by other countries and was praised by the United Nations Secretary General during his visit to New Zealand in May 2019.
“Through the GRA we have successfully mobilised action around the world - from governments, international organisations and producers - to better understand the opportunities we have to reduce global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are committed to supporting the scientific capability in developing countries, and to broadening the pool of innovation and ideas globally. These scholarships will help us tap into the new research and knowledge these students will bring to New Zealand, while enabling them to expand their knowledge and expertise in agriculture emissions science”.
Applications open today (3 February 2020) and close 1 June 2020. Scholarship details are available on the Global Research Alliance and the Education New Zealand webpages.
Media contact: Nikki Prendergast 021 811 248
nikki.prendergast@parliament.govt.nz
From the CE: Manaakitanga: it's what we do
First, I want to acknowledge the complex and difficult situation that many students and their families, as well as agents, are facing during this period of uncertainty. This is a tough time, and I know there are a lot of people working hard in trying to make things a bit easier.
While there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in New Zealand to date, there’s no doubt that this has been a frustrating start to the school and academic year.
I also want to acknowledge our sector – the education providers, peak bodies and related government agencies – who have been working hard to address this rapidly changing situation, both here and internationally.
Led by the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education for the education sector, our sector has been working hard to respond to the impact of the coronavirus and support our international students.
Right now, we’re continuing to respond to short-term issues, while also looking at the longer term picture.
Looking ahead, amongst other things, we’re thinking about how we recognise and acknowledge the commitment that international students have made to study in New Zealand. We also need to remain a sought-after education destination and ensure students continue to be warmly welcomed to our shores.
Manaakitanga – to look after one another by extending respect, hospitality and warmth – must underpin everything we do.
I’d also like to thank the homestay providers and others who have continued to warmly welcome international students into their homes, and the staff who have ensured everyone has the support they need.
He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!
What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! It is people! It is people!
Ka kite anō,
Grant McPherson
Chief Executive/Kaihautū
Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao
Regional partner support

International education benefits the regions of New Zealand by contributing to the economy, supporting workforce and talent needs, and enriching communities socially and culturally. ENZ supports regions to attract and retain international students by co-funding famils or seed funding projects that align with wider government strategic goals and priorities in our work, such as those found in the International Education Strategy 2022 – 2030.

A key aim of ENZ’s work in the regions has been to support a sustainable model of regional international education development. We work alongside interested regional economic development agencies and other relevant bodies for mutual benefit to identify opportunities for development and growth and ultimately achieve a greater balance across regions.

For more information please email: sectorengagementteam@enz.govt.nz
Meet the team: Miranda Herbert
Hi Miranda. Could you tell us a bit about your professional background?
Quite a few people who work in education say that they ‘fell into’ education. I’m the same.
When I was younger I was always interested in languages. I did Japanese right through high school, I decided to continue with it at university. I asked my Dad what other language I should study, and he said I had to learn Chinese because it’s going to be an important language in the future.
I then spent four and a half years living and working in China, and became quite involved in education. I ended up working for a PTE in New Zealand, and then I moved to the University of Auckland. There I worked my way up to the deputy director of international.
What has it been like in Beijing during the outbreak of COVID-19?
I was actually in China when SARS broke out, 20 years ago, too [while at a previous role]. This time seems quite different to then. The level that China has mobilised this year has been quite amazing to experience firsthand.
It’s been really surreal, particularly during the January and February months. Despite Beijing having a population of over 20 million people, for weeks we saw no-one on the street - you could cross the road with your eyes closed, which never happens here. At other times, it could get quite depressing having to stay in all the time.
Now, things are starting to get back to normal. It really varies across China, but here in Beijing, businesses are opening again, people are starting to go into the office for work, people are going to restaurants and dining out – while still following physical distancing etiquette.
We feel really lucky that we were able to stay here, because safety comes first and foremost in China. There’s still a lot of temperature checks, for example, if you order food on the receipt it will tell you the temperature of the chef and the person who delivered it to you.
Most of Team China is working at home, and will come into the office when they need to. We’re working our butts off at the moment to keep things rolling. We’re involved in digital events almost every day. And although we’re not going out to meet people, we’re working closely alongside our agent contacts and partnership network.
What would you advise to people trying to conduct business in China?
You have to be patient and not expect results straight away. You have to nurture relationships. It’s about understanding that cultural difference, because the way China does business is quite different to back home.
A profile of Miranda wouldn’t be complete without you introducing us to your cats. Could you tell us about them?
I have two cats, one boy and one girl. They are my babies. I don’t have real babies, I have cats.
The boy is called Nonga; he’s a real big personality, everyone around here knows him and he’s becoming famous on WeChat! Even though he has stage four renal failure, he still makes us laugh. My girl is called Missy Moo – she’s more shy and is quite happy to stay at home on your lap.
An update from ENZ’s international teams
Instead, they’ve been taking proactive steps to support and connect with the international education sector safely, in line with local COVID-19 restrictions.
Communicating with stakeholders
For ENZ, ensuring the wellbeing of international students who remain in New Zealand over this lockdown period is a key priority. A factsheet outlining New Zealand’s support for international students has been developed and translated into the languages of key priority markets.
Our teams overseas have been communicating with a range of stakeholders from local government and institutions to providers and agents, and in some cases directly to students and parents to ensure they have the latest information.
ENZ staff have been recommending students enrol on NauMai NZ and asking international partners to pass SafeTravel information on to New Zealand students they may have on campus.
The International team is able to tap into these networks for market-specific insights to help inform the New Zealand international education industry’s next steps during this rapidly-evolving and unprecedented situation.
Anecdotally, the response in New Zealand has been well received overseas. New Zealand’s proactive approach to communications has been noted by partners.
Doing it digital
For our teams offshore, fairs, conferences and other international education events have had to be cancelled or postponed. As a result, they’ve ramped up their online activities.
To share best practice advice and take advantage of the pause in promotional activity, they’ve developed educational webinars for sector stakeholders.
1. On 24 March, ENZ Market Development Manager Shelly Xu teamed up with the General Manager of UMS (a China media specialist agency), Jordi Du, to deliver a webinar for New Zealand international education staff on Chinese social media. Over 30 people attended.
The Chinese digital space looks very different to ours. The platforms WeChat and Weibo rule, rather than Facebook and Twitter. Shelly and Jordi aimed to demystify Chinese platforms by taking providers through the Chinese social landscape and discussing what kind of posts would stand out to their target audiences.
Watch the Zoom recording.
2. On 17 March, ENZ Team India delivered a webinar especially for Indian agents and counsellors focused on business courses available in New Zealand.
An incredible 177 people tuned in to hear from ENZ staff as well as guest speakers: Associate Professor Lincoln Wood from University of Otago; Dr Jens Mueller from Massey University; Ashish Suri from The University of Waikato and Andrea McLeod-Karim from Victoria University of Wellington.
3. On 16 April, Senior Market Development Manager for Chile and Colombia, Javiera Visedo, was the guest on a Facebook Live session with the Blue Studies agency (who have over 21,000 followers) for the Latin America Spanish-speaking audience.
She also presented at Colfuturo (a Colombian scholarship-loan non-profit organisation) for a Study in New Zealand webinar on 17 April. This week, she will participate in a virtual fair organised by Colombian agency Estudiar.
For the chance to attend future webinars, keep an eye on E-News and the ENZ LinkedIn and Twitter pages.
Beginning to test market sentiment
As ENZ moves into the next phase of supporting the international sector, a new priority for our international teams is testing market sentiment.
For example, a survey was sent out to agents in Spanish-speaking markets in March. Of the 18 responses received, most of the agents have English language students in New Zealand and 68 percent are from Colombia. The agents set out their students’ main concerns at the moment: work situation while studying, uncertainty of the global situation, and visa expiration.
This fits with what we are hearing across all markets – agents and other institutional partners need information about New Zealand’s response to the current situation.
New Zealand continues to protect and care for international students during lockdown
Providers, host families and supporting networks have been setting up additional support for international students to ensure they feel connected and safe.
Education New Zealand is pulling together some of the great things that have been taking place across the sector. Here are just a small number that we have heard about so far.
- Otago University has a dedicated information page for students, with students registering with Ask Otago. They can then request daily phone calls to check in and see how they are doing. University recreation centre staff are also offering virtual fitness classes.
- University of Auckland has been supporting the COVID-19 response by undertaking modelling work that informs the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor and working directly with the Auckland District Health Board to help with testing capacity by using their facilities and people.
- Rotorua English Language Academy (RELA) is teaching online classes to 30 students from nine different countries. Many students are worried about their families back home so in addition to support during class time, staff make individual phone calls and arrange fun activities such as the recent Easter video competition on WhatsApp. Friday full-school assemblies and farewell speeches continue to lift students’ spirits with the RELA tradition of singing ‘Now is the Hour’ – managed by the school’s director playing on the piano at home while students sing over Zoom.
- Several Northland schools have been working closely with Study Northland to support the 150 international students in their care. The international students are being well supported by their schools and homestay families by keeping them busy and making them feel like an integral part of the family.
- SIEBA is doing an amazing job supporting the school sector. The small SIEBA team has been working around the clock to provide advice and guidance to schools, including publishing residential care emergency guidance to help schools navigate these tricky areas. On top of all that, SIEBA is raising key issues with the Ministry of Education and alerting government agencies to emerging challenges.
- Massey University’s international support staff are running virtual one-on-one support sessions which can be arranged by the students themselves. The university, like other universities, is making personal phone calls to all students to ensure they feel supported. Massey also has a range of wellbeing resources available and the recreation centres have taken their services online.
- Aspire2 International has launched a number of online learning solutions that have all gained NZQA accreditation. This means English, hospitality, IT and business students can transition from face-to-face to remote learning quickly in order to complete their qualifications.
We want to hear more about the great work the sector is doing to support international students within New Zealand both in enabling their learning but also supporting their wellbeing.
Please let us know what your organisation has been doing and we will look to share this wider. Send your stories to industryteam@enz.govt.nz.
Assistance during COVID-19
International students are valued members of our community. We want to ensure they stay safe and have access to the information, care and support they need during this time.
Education providers, intermediary or community organisations and students can use the resources linked below to know where international students in New Zealand can find assistance if they are in urgent need of essentials like food, medicine or cleaning products.
Agents key to NZ’s international education recovery
Education agents have been playing a crucial role in ensuring that international students and their parents have accurate information about the impact of COVID-19 on New Zealand. Many international students will approach their agent for support and advice, ahead of their study provider.
Looking ahead, agents will play an even more important role in the recovery of our international education sector and visibility of New Zealand as a study destination.
ENZ’s General Manager – Partnerships & Marketing, Paul Irwin, says our partnerships with education agents will be essential for the international education sector’s recovery.
“Education agents play an important role in students’ New Zealand education experience and are key information sources for both prospective and current international students. In most cases, they are the main interface between international education providers and students. Working with agents is a significant focus for ENZ and most providers as part of our COVID-19 recovery phase.”
This view is shared by the sector. For example, at a recent SIEBA (Schools International Education Business Association) webinar, 77 percent of participating SIEBA members said recognised that education agents would be more important to the sector through the post COVID-19 recovery phase, while 33 percent said agents would be important.
In response to COVID-19, ENZ has upped the frequency of communications and engagement with agents have the information they need to advise current and future students and their families.
A key tool is AgentLab, ENZ’s special resource for education agents. Over 3500 agents around the world are registered to use AgentLab. It supports agents with regular COVID-19 updates, and a dedicated COVID-19 FAQs section to answer agent queries.
In addition ENZ has held 11 well-attended COVID-19-specific webinars since February, reaching over 2000 agents. Topics have included measures taken by New Zealand in response to COVID-19, the importance of education agents in a post COVID-19 world and a Schools sector update on the support available to international students during this time.
Agents also receive a fortnightly update from ENZ’s Chief Executive Grant McPherson, and a monthly electronic newsletter to ENZ’s 305 Recognised Agencies.
Agents are also supported with market-specific webinars and live social interactions by ENZ’s internationally based teams, who are the first point of engagement for overseas agents.
ENZ’s Manager – Education Agents, Geneviève Rousseau Cung, education agents are highly engaged with COVID-19-specific resources and communications to date.
“We have seen 1081 new education agents register on AgentLab since late March (when New Zealand moved to lockdown under Alert Level 4). This is a huge 30 percent increase in registered agents in just seven weeks.
“We are seeing high attendance for our COVID-19 specific agent webinars, which have emerged as one of our key communication channels with agents as they facilitate direct interactions and let us respond to a range of market-specific queries.”
Agent webinars are also a good opportunity for to run quick polls to measure agent sentiment on key topics.
In a recent webinar, poll results showed that the perception of New Zealand’s COVID-19 response in agents’ countries or regions was overwhelmingly positive (84 percent). Just over 51 percent of agent participants said that their prospective students (with an offer of place to New Zealand institutions) were willing to defer their start date to 2021 (and 38 percent were undecided as yet).
“At such a critical, unprecedented time, it’s great to see education agents playing a crucial role in ensuring that international students and their parents have access to the necessary information and advice regarding COVID-19,” Geneviève says.
ENZ is planning a series of webinars involving ENZ teams, other New Zealand government agencies and the international education sector. If you would like the ENZ team to engage with you regarding a potential agent webinar, please get in touch with us at agenthelp@enz.govt.nz.
Meet the Team: Matt Penney
Could you please outline your own role and the role of the Corporate Services team?
I head up our Finance and IT teams and sit on the leadership team. I am a member of the Audit & Risk committee and chair the Digital Steering group.
Finance is responsible for paying our invoices, keeping accounting records, business partnering, helping to set budgets and reforecasting those as things change. We do a lot of reporting and work with tax people, auditors and do other forms of compliance. Audit NZ has awarded us their highest rating for the past three years.
IT provides many of the essential tools, technology, and training for us to be able to do our job. ENZ is putting in place one of the most, if not the most, advanced IT-managed cloud computing solution within the public sector.
We operate in many different jurisdictions around the world, so we face many different challenges at a local level. We are also part of the NZ Inc government sector and there is a lot of knowledge and services that we can and do share with each other.
How has COVID-19 impacted your team’s work, and what work do you have ahead of you with the recovery?
In the current environment, we have helped to reconfigure ENZ’s work programme. We have supported the identification of new activities that support the international education sector, connect with the international students in New Zealand, and gather intelligence about the markets for New Zealand providers. I think we have all gone through a reboot the last few months and as is often said, “we should never let a good crisis go to waste” and miss the chance to make positive change.
In terms of my team’s work programme, that’s actually full steam ahead. We have nearly completed our IT-managed cloud computing solution, desk phones have been replaced with soft phone telephony, we are trialling updated Zoom hardware, and putting in new, improved global managed internet connections. We are also go-live shortly with a new finance system to ensure ENZ staff can spend less time on administration and more time on value-add activities.
Can you tell me a bit about your professional background?
I belong to the New Zealand professional bodies for Directors and Chartered Accountants. and have 25 years of business experience in a mixture of private and public sector roles. Six years of that experience was gained in the UK and Ireland. I really enjoyed my time working overseas.
I joined ENZ in 2014; this is my first government agency role.
Accounting is a transferable skill, so I have had an interesting journey across many different sectors. I have toured around power stations, air traffic control towers, coal mines – who says accounting is boring!

Matt (about to receive a hand up) competing in an adventure race in China.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
My interests are built around my family; I am married with 11 and 8-year-old boys. I like my travel – one of the benefits of COVID is that my leave balance is now positive again!
Once upon a time we backpacked our way around Asia and Europe and did a truck tour across southern Africa. I have been to something like 60 countries, but these days we do more family-friendly things like go to Ohope, Rarotonga and the South Island ski fields.
I have done the annual Coast to Coast race across the South Island four times and Ironman NZ once. In the past couple of years I’ve tried adventure racing in China where we’ve won enough prize money to cover the costs of getting there. We raced in Wulong and I could not go all that way without popping in to see Felix in our nearest ENZ office in Guangzhou.