Search

Showing 10 of 1007 results for gabrielaaa06302 of

Latin America: 3 countries, 5 cities, 10 days
From 21-31 April, Minister Joyce visited Santiago, Bogota, Sao Paulo, Cuiaba and Brasilia undertaking a comprehensive programme focussing on international education but also covering his other portfolio areas of science, innovation and economic development.
Simultaneously, ENZ Chief Executive Grant McPherson led a high-level university delegation comprised of Victoria University of Wellington's Vice Chancellor Grant Guilford, Otago University Deputy Vice Chancellor Richard Blaikie, Lincoln University Deputy Vice Chancellor Jeremy Baker and South America specialist Maria Duter, as well as UNZ Executive Director Chris Whelan.
This was Minister Joyce’s first visit to Latin America, and it was a great opportunity for him to experience the culture of doing business in the region as well as to get a first-hand impression of the opportunities. The Minister particularly valued the chance to speak with New Zealand alumni. His various conversations with Chilean penguins, Brazilian Science without Borders’ students and Colombian Colfuturo scholarship recipients confirmed that the messages we promote on New Zealand’s high quality education, safe and creative learning environment, and the building of lifelong friendships and connections all ring very true.
The visit also confirmed that accessing scholarships funded by the governments of Chile, Colombia and Brazil should remain a priority for us. In all three countries there are question marks over the longevity of some scholarship schemes, so maximising the opportunities to underline our commitment to them while in market was useful.
Overall, the Minister’s bilateral discussions with Ministerial counterparts in the region confirmed a solid interest in developing the government-to-government relationships in regard to international education. As well as increasing student flows, interest was expressed in learning from New Zealand’s experience of developing a qualifications framework, standards and quality assurance measures, pathways policies as well as training teachers of English. NZ/Colombia bilateral education consultations have been approved for the last quarter of 2015 and Brazil has agreed to refreshing our current bilateral MOU into an Education Cooperation Arrangement.
The Minister’s visit generated considerable media interest and was covered by television, radio and press, successfully raising the profile of New Zealand as an education destination. The last word goes to the university delegation which supported one another’s offerings as well as the overall New Zealand education story with a refrain that developed during our journeys: “You can’t make a wrong choice in New Zealand”. A powerful message for prospective students.
Left: Minister Joyce presenting at the Brazil Senate Education Committee. Right: The Minister speaks with the media after lunch with the Governor of Mato Grosso State.
Country insights include:
Chile
During the Minister’s visit, a fresh tranche of 80 Chilean high school Penguins Without Borders were confirmed to arrive in July for two terms. Continuation of this programme is uncertain, with no indication of Chilean government plans to send Penguins in 2016. There’s good news, however, on the tertiary Becas Chile scholarship front, with administrators convinced by New Zealand’s arguments that subject-area rankings (rather than university-wide rankings) should be considered when approving study destinations. This paves the way for increased student flow from Chile.
Brazil
The Brazilian Science Without Borders scheme shows increasing numbers of Brazilian students approved for studies in New Zealand. However, with the Brazilian public service facing severe budget cuts, there is no guarantee that the projected 100,000 Brazilian students will be placed for offshore study between now and 2018.
The Minister's opening address at the international education FAUBAI Conference in Cuiaba hit exactly the right note, reaching around 500 international tertiary education contacts from 26 countries. The strong focus in Brazil is on forging strong institution-to-institution relationships to encourage joint research, as well as student and academic exchange.
Colombia
A highlight of the Bogota programme was an event with scholarship agency Colfuturo, with presentations and interactions between the NZ universities and prospective students in person and online. Executive Director Jeronimo Castro is passionate about New Zealand and prospects for increasing student flow are positive.
To find out more about opportunities in the Lain America region, please contact Lisa Futschek or Cecily Lin.
Above: The Minister’s Twitter feed included this media scrum at Faubai.
New campaign sparks student network
“International students tell us that studying in New Zealand is an experience that changes them for the better – not only because of the great education they receive but also because they get to enjoy our unique environment and lifestyle,” says General Manager Marketing and Channel Development Hannah Lee-Darboe.
“When you’re away from home, sometimes all you want to be able to do is show your friends just what it’s like – to have them right there beside you for a while. We’re offering that opportunity to international students currently in New Zealand.”
The campaign offers students the chance to invite a friend from their home country to join them here for a 10 day all-expenses-paid study adventure.
Students visit studyin.nz to enter, and invite their friends to register their interest in visiting them. Entries are open until 25 May. Five student pairs will be shortlisted, with the winning pair selected and their itinerary built by audience vote. The study adventure will take place in July.
“We all connect through communities and networks. This campaign activates these channels and puts New Zealand on the radar of the friends and families of students currently studying in New Zealand,” says Hannah.
Selected institutions are also raising awareness of the competition through their channels.
The campaigns builds on the recently-announced partnership with the global networking organisation Kea.
“International education fosters global connections. We’re connecting New Zealand to the world through education, from studying through to graduation and beyond.”
Et4e registrations open
The impressive line-up of international speakers includes Frank Catalano of Intrinsic Strategy, who will bring a US-based view of edtech trends, and Hong Kong and Japan-based Allison Baum of Fresco Capital who will cover edtech investment in the high growth Asian region.
Of equally high calibre are the local speakers and panellists: Frances Valintine of The Mind Lab by Unitec will inspire delegates with her use of technology and global approach, and Education Perfect’s CEO and 2014 Internet Entrepreneur of the Year, Craig Smith, will contribute to the panel discussion on developing products and services in response to demand. Sharing tips on how to tackle export markets will be the focus for two panels made up of experienced exporters such as South Pacific Press, ADInstruments/Kura Cloud and more recent entrants to the world of exporting such as Kiwa Digital, as well as successful start-ups such as Boardingware.
The diverse and entrepreneurial edtech community is made of up education publishers, game developers, ICT companies and educationalists and the et4e conference provides great opportunities for making connections. Delegates are often on the lookout for new ideas and partners to collaborate with. An educational publisher who attended the first et4e conference in 2013 was inspired to form a new company with a game developer. In the space of two years, this has led to the launch and export of a new early childhood literacy product, Bud-E Reading.
Et4e is organised by Education New Zealand and Grow Wellington in recognition of the edtech sector’s growing contribution to export growth in international education. New Zealand’s high quality and innovative education system, combined with its entrepreneurial and creative culture, is the perfect ecosystem for the development of leading-edge edtech products and services. Huffington Post recently cited the Hamilton-based company, CodeAvengers, as one of its top ten online learning sites to watch in 2015. CodeAvengers founder Michael Walmsley Jr. will be a panellist at this year’s conference.
Educational Technology is an exciting and growing sector – it is currently worth $86 billion globally and is forecast to grow to $257 billion by 2017. Find out more about et4e 2015 and take advantage of the early bird tickets.
Massey study abroad programme a big hit
Greg Huff, Manager of Student Mobility, said 38 students from the United States (US) have signed up for this year’s National Expedition and Internship, up from the first year tally of seven.
Education New Zealand provided financial support through the International Education Growth Fund to help kick-start the programme.
The expedition and internship, which can be selected separately or together during June and July, hosts students for two weeks’ travel through New Zealand followed by a four week internship in Hawke’s Bay while earning university credits. Massey's six week study abroad programme takes place during the US summer holidays and is equivalent to earning half a semester's worth of credits that can be transferred back to their home university.
This customised study abroad experience provides opportunities for students studying agriculture, agribusiness, environmental science and wildlife management to gain hands-on professional experience relevant to their degree.
The current programme has proven to be so successful Massey will next year offer a programme targeting students studying journalism, public relations, advertising, media studies, marketing and communications. Details are still being developed but it is likely to be based in Wellington.
Greg is promoting the programmes at NAFSA (National Association of International Educators – previously foreign student advisers).
While Massey is focusing its recruiting efforts on the United States, students from any country are welcome to attend. Some international students studying in the US have chosen to come on this programme.
Massey is also looking to start a third programme in 2017.
“We’re looking at programmes that are complementary so they do not cannibalise each other. We are very pleased with the interest shown by students.”
Catching up with the Canadians – news for the school sector
“Everyone knows that Canada is a key competitor for NZ’s school sector,” Mary says. “I wanted to find out more about their success and learn about the challenges they face”.
“Many of the people I met were surprised to learn that NZ hosts about 16,000 international school students – punching above our weight internationally when compared with Australia’s 18,000 – but still a long way from Canada’s 46,000 enrolments! Nevertheless Canada does see Australia and NZ as its main competitors offshore.”
The theme of the Conference was Collaborating to Educate Tomorrow’s Global Citizens. It was attended by 250 delegates from across Canada. Delegates represent school districts or boards, so each delegate could be working with 10 or 50 schools.
International speakers at the conference noted New Zealand’s recent increased profile and activity level in the school sector, citing government support and the establishment of SIEBA as positive developments.
“We are developing a relationship with CAPS-I, with both sides keen to explore potential collaboration” says Mary.
“During my visit I learnt a lot about Canada’s school international education industry. They draw from many of the same markets we do, but as you might expect NZ is stronger (relatively speaking) in South East Asia while Canada is stronger in Latin America.
“There is very little federal government support for Canadian schools’ international business, because education is a provincial responsibility. Canadian schools are committed to delivering high quality student experiences, but they don’t have a Code of Practice equivalent to regulate high professional standards.”
Mary will be sharing more about her learnings on Canada at a pre-conference workshop at NZIEC 2015.
INAKL ambassadors welcome
It is an exciting milestone for the INAKL programme, which is a key project for Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development – which drives the growth of the international education through its specialist team Study Auckland.
The ambassadors will regularly blog about their experiences as an international student in Auckland on a new site which went live this week.
Ketaki Khare was among the ambassadors who were formally announced by Auckland Mayor Len Brown at an international student function held at Auckland Zoo last month.
As well as being a student ambassador, Ketaki is among 10 Indian students awarded the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Sports Scholarships for 2015. She is a member of the Indian women’s rugby team, is India’s first female rugby referee and the first Indian woman to pursue a professional career in rugby.
Ketaki Khare says: “Being an INAKL International Student Ambassador is an amazing opportunity to view this magical city in all its glory and it gives me immense pleasure to be able to write about all my experiences.”
Birgit Hermann, Project Manager – International Student Experience, says: “The ambassadors’ role is to experience everything Auckland has to offer and talk about them to international students who are here or may come here.”
The event at Auckland Zoo was the second in a series of INAKL events organised by Study Auckland for the region’s international student community. Some international students also enjoyed an INAKL group attendance at an Auckland Blues rugby game last month, and a recent Immigration New Zealand seminar about how they could potentially make Auckland their permanent home.
The programme kicked off with the resoundingly successful International Student Welcome held at The Cloud in March, which attracted about 2,400 students.
“The recent immigration seminar was fully subscribed within 10 hours and the INAKL Facebook site reached more than 2000 likes this week. The programme is achieving great results, but we would like to see it continue to grow and benefit students,” says Birgit.
For further information please visit aucklandnz.com/inakl or contact inakl@aucklandnz.com.
Apply on Behalf explained
The service, which goes live early next week, will allow third parties to lodge visa applications on behalf of students.
Different versions of the flyer have been produced for education agents applying offshore, and for education providers.
Education agents are legally allowed to provide immigration advice to offshore student visa applicants only. Education providers can help students complete and upload the forms online, but they are not allowed to provide immigration advice.
To use Apply on Behalf, education agents and providers need to create their own Immigration ONLINE account on the Immigration New Zealand website.
The account shows a summary list of applications and PDF versions of application forms and supporting documents that third parties submit to Immigration ONLINE on behalf of students.
A third version of the information flyer, for students, updates the one produced when online applications became available for students last August.
Later this year, eVisas – passport-free and label-less visas – will be available to students from visa-waiver countries (these are countries whose citizens do not need a visa to travel to New Zealand).
Also later in 2015, education providers will be able to view their students’ visa status through Immigration New Zealand’s VisaView service.
Download the online application flyers:
South Canterbury welcomes Thai agent
What was the purpose of Pear’s visit to South Canterbury?
Education South Canterbury is working on developing an MOU with Thai schools introduced to us by Pear. She was in South Canterbury specifically to familiarise herself with our schools and to experience the region as the students do. She visited each of Education South Canterbury’s member schools and met with students at each one.
How did Pear’s visit fit in with Education South Canterbury’s goals?
Thailand is a focus market and an important and valuable partner for Education South Canterbury.
In the Education South Canterbury strategic plan we are working to develop capability and support the government goals for 2025.
As we are developing an MOU with schools in Thailand that Pear works with, we felt that the familiarisation visit would give her a strong understanding of the educational experiences offered by institutions and the student lifestyle here in the region.
Education South Canterbury was delighted to give Pear a first-hand experience of the region, so that she can support and promote the special features of the programmes that we offer.
What did Pear see and experience during her visit?
Pear’s visit started with a welcome dinner with the members of Education South Canterbury and included a lunch hosted by the Mayor.
We wanted to give Pear the opportunity to experience the activities that our students take part in while studying in the region – she went to a country cafe complete with farmyard animals, and mini golf and afternoon tea with Thai students currently studying at a local school and Aoraki Polytechnic.
Pear visited the Te Ana Rock Art Centre and was very impressed with the cultural history of the region
Unfortunately, the planned trip to Tekapo for a jet boat ride had to be cancelled due to gale force winds! So, that gave her first-hand experience of New Zealand’s changeable weather patterns.
Pear stayed in Geraldine and Timaru, getting a taste of both town and country lifestyles, and experiencing both homestay and motel accommodation, further strengthening her insights in to the student and parent experience.
What did Pear enjoy most?
Pear really enjoyed the chance to meet all of the Education South Canterbury members and develop relationships with the International Directors at each of the institutions.
She loved meeting the current students and felt their enthusiasm and honest feedback was really valuable.
In Geraldine Pear loved looking at the stars after we had been out for a meal. With no light pollution she had some great views of the Milky Way – the clear night air almost magnifies the vista. This is something Pear just doesn’t get to see in the large cities of Thailand.
What did you learn about Thailand from Pear?
All Education South Canterbury members are familiar with Thailand and have visited regularly, so we were especially pleased to get specific information about the schools we are dealing with and the expectations around our MOU from the Thai schools’ perspective. We really appreciated Pear’s forthrightness in working through the specifics of the process.
How are you maintaining the relationship now that Pear’s gone home?
We have been in regular email contact with Pear since her return to Thailand, and we are planning an Education South Canterbury group delegation visit in early September to see Pear and visit NZ Study.
What do you see as unique about South Canterbury education and culture?
In South Canterbury we don’t just do international education, we internationalise our education.
South Canterbury offers an authentic small town Kiwi experience, where all students are known in the school and warmly embraced by the wider community. Students get an individual and intimate experience – they are all made to feel special and develop lifelong friendships with Kiwi students and homestay families.
The experience is very much a two-way exchange between the international students and the Kiwi students. The visiting students opened our Kiwi students’ eyes to their lifestyle, culture and life experiences… so becoming the educators of our students!
South Canterbury is “New Zealand at your back door”. We offer beaches, mountains, rivers and diverse landscapes – outdoor excitement with a sense of security. In South Canterbury, you can travel from the Southern Alps to the ocean in two hours or less.
Students in Education South Canterbury schools learn in the environment. Field trips and outdoor pursuits take them out into the real New Zealand and they are immersed in the environment they are learning about.
Students in South Canterbury schools can embrace the arts – music and theatre, orchestras, brass bands and sing in New Zealand award-winning choral groups.
No matter what students want to pursue, South Canterbury offers the opportunity!
L – R: Julie McLean, Pear and Mayor of Timaru, Damon Odey
Bound for Asia
In September Lauren will move to Shanghai to begin her exchange at East China Normal University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China to study the Global Curriculum programme as part of Victoria University's Study Abroad and student exchange programme.
“I expect my Chinese language skills to improve as well as my knowledge of Chinese consumers through living amongst them. Longer term I view this as an amazing opportunity to form networks with new friends, future colleagues and business partners.
“The university is also close to Fonterra’s headquarters in China. I will be interning there one day per week. This will give me a chance to link what I am learning in the classroom with actual business cases. The tangible benefits of learning the language are already becoming clear. I recently wrote my first email in Chinese,” says Lauren.
Increasing Kiwi students’ cultural awareness and understanding of our Asia-Pacific neighbours will strengthen their global connectedness and deepen New Zealand’s links in the Asia-Pacific region.
Through their Asian study experience students will gain confidence in operating in an international context and obtain knowledge and skills that will help them in their future careers.
Not only will some students make lifelong connections through these study experiences, all of them will be great ambassadors for the quality and strength of New Zealand’s education system.
With one of New Zealand’s greatest challenges being to overcome the lack of awareness of our education offerings, having some of our best and brightest participate in study in Asian markets is another way of raising our profile.
More about the Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia, including full list of recipients, can be found here.
Read Minister Joyce’s press release announcing the awardees here.
Doing the business
Included in that count were representatives from all eight New Zealand universities, four ITPs, and ENZ Chief Executive Grant MacPherson along with Lisa Futschek (Regional Director for the Americas, Japan and Korea) and Amy Rutherford (International Market Manager for China and the US). Whilst there is a full conference programme at NAFSA each year, the real focus is on the exhibitions’ hall which has been described as a ‘massive speed dating event'. Resembling any large international trade fair, hundreds of upmarket booths house service providers, national umbrella organisations, individual education institutions and agents looking to do deals with one another in the Study Abroad market.
New Zealand institutions had full agendas throughout the week, exploring new business opportunities with partner institutions from the US and around the world and maintaining and developing existing relationships.
ENZ met with a range of organisations keen to work with us in promoting New Zealand as a study abroad destination, including the US Department of State, Education USA, Institute of International Education, STA travel, GoOverseas and a number of third party providers (akin to agents).
The New Zealand networking function was once again a highlight on the NAFSA agenda, with more than 200 of our closest partners enjoying an evening rich with New Zealand wine, food and culture, including an impressive haka performed by Laken Whitecliff, a young New Zealand artist based in New York, who was displaying his work at the venue. It was an evening to be proud of and an excellent way to thank our many partners in the US and globally.
The US Study Abroad market is buoyant, with much untapped opportunity for New Zealand. A range of government agencies have substantial budgets to assist US students on Study Abroad experiences in support of a government goal of doubling to 600,000 the number of US undergraduates studying abroad by the end of the decade. New Zealand has a very positive image in the US, although our profile as a high quality study destination remains comparatively low. But US students choose us rather for lifestyle reasons, our outdoor adventure, incredible landscapes, lord of the rings legacy and being a ‘bit different’ and off the beaten track.
On the back of profile-raising campaigns ENZ led in conjunction with IIE and GoOverseas in the latter half of 2014, there has been considerable growth in the number of US students seeking visas. The first quarter of 2015 is 25% up (221 visas) on the first quarter of 2014. A great start to the year!
If you’d like more information about the US market, please email Lisa.Futscheck@enz.govt.nz or Amy.Rutherford@enz.govt.nz