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Around the world in five
GLOBAL
Beyond Covid-19: What’s Next for International Higher Ed
International education has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. As many international students pursue their studies online this semester, study abroad and foreign exchange programs have been cancelled. In a world with little travel, closed borders, and surging infections, many are asking: what is next for international higher ed?
CANADA
Canada to open borders to international students from Oct 20
International students will be able to enter Canada from October 20 if the institution they are studying at has a Covid-19 readiness plan approved by their local provincial or territorial government, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has announced.
GLOBAL
Fourth annual PIEoneer Award winners revealed in online ceremony
The fourth annual PIEoneers Awards was held on October 2, with the latest celebration of the international education sector held on a virtual stage for the first time due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. ENZ was a sponsor of the event and was awarded Highly Commended in the Student Support category.
AUSTRALIA
Killing the golden goose: How Australia's international students are being driven away
Just 4,062 student visa applications were received in June, compared to 34,015 last year. Current international students are telling others not to come to Australia.
CHINA
China’s Ministry of Education: Utilise the advantages of cooperation in running schools to solve the problems of studying abroad
To tackle these challenges, the Chinese Government responded quickly to pressing issues raised by its students.
Amongst all the interventions put forward, the expanded enrolment of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools (hereafter referred to as joint programme or JP) attracted the greatest attention from the public.
According to the Q&A Session, Chinese students who are unable to travel overseas to pursue their study can either enrol in online learning organised by their foreign institutions (the recognition of their foreign qualification will not be affected), or the students who are enrolled with foreign universities will now have the chance to study JP at Chinese institutions.
The increased enrolment in JPs will not be included in the national unified enrolment plan, and will not take up the original enrolment quota of the higher education establishments. After completing their studies, students who meet the academic requirements will only be awarded a degree certificate from the foreign university.
If the student still would like to pursue their study overseas as soon as border restrictions are lifted, they should choose online learning by their foreign university, as indicated by China MoE.
About 90 JPs and joint institutes, including EIT, are on the list for expanded enrolment. The Master in Applied Finance programme offered by AUT and Zhejiang University of Economics and Finance is currently the only NZ programme that is on the list.
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Upcoming: New Zealand Education Week in Greater China
ENZ is supporting a New Zealand Education Week in Greater China to strengthen our relationships with stakeholders from various sectors and audiences, including education agencies, Chinese Government partners, education institutions and other stakeholders.
It will feature agent seminars, the Model Vocational Education Symposium, an Early Childhood Education Symposium, alongside networking opportunities throughout the week.
ENZ is currently accepting expressions of interest (EOI) for the Early Childhood Education Symposium. Please share the call for EOIs with relevant colleagues and practitioners. Download the Expression of Interest form - ECE Symposium.
As part of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise’s New Zealand Week, the ENZ team will be hosting a New Zealand Alumni function in Shanghai.
Invitations for Education Week - Greater China events will be shared with relevant audiences later this month. If you have any questions for the China team, please email china@enz.govt.nz.
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From the CE: Honouring our commitment to international students
The Government has announced today that a new border exception will allow 250 international PhD and postgraduate students to enter New Zealand and continue their studies.
Read Minister of Education Chris Hipkins’ official release.
This is a positive first step on the path to recovery and is consistent with the Recovery Plan for International Education.
It is recognition that international education is important to New Zealand and will play a vital role in the country’s rebuild and recovery from COVID-19. Prior to COVID, international education was New Zealand’s fifth-largest export earner, earning $5 billion a year and supporting around 45,000 jobs.
Moreover, the international students included in this group have had their postgraduate study or research disrupted by COVID-19, and cannot complete it due to the practical nature of their course. They have made a commitment to New Zealand, and that’s something we want to honour.
ENZ’s next step is to work with tertiary providers as they identify and select eligible students, and to continue to work with other government agencies to ensure a safe and considered process is developed for these students to enter the country.
ENZ is looking forward to further border exceptions that will benefit as many providers and students as possible, when it is safe to do so.
We will also have work underway to make sure the students entering New Zealand receive a warm welcome and have the information they need to succeed.
I am very proud of the manaakitanga that New Zealand education providers have been demonstrating throughout the COVID-19 crisis this year.
Please continue to encourage your students to sign up to NauMai NZ, our digital home for students who have chosen to study in New Zealand. Over the COVID-19 crisis, it has continually been updated and expanded with information international students need to know.
In the early hours of Saturday, 2 October, ENZ’s NauMai NZ was awarded a Highly Commended in the Student Support category at The PIEoneer Awards. We are delighted to be recognised for this work alongside such a varied list of international organisations.
You can read more about NauMai NZ in this issue of E-News.
He waka eke noa (we’re all in this together).
Grant McPherson
Chief Executive
Manapou ki te Ao
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Around the world in five
FINLAND
University World News: What makes international students want to stay on or go?
Three-quarters of bachelor degree graduates and two-thirds of masters and doctoral graduates live on in Finland for three or more years after their degree, according to new research.
NEW ZEALAND
Checkpoint: Education NZ chair details exemptions for foreign PhD students
Interview with Education New Zealand Chair Steve Maharey. "They can come from any country as long as they are involved in PhD study, or they are Masters students."
GLOBAL
University World News: Combating discrimination against international students
Our findings outline disturbing trends in discrimination and racism that must be dealt with urgently by universities in the immediate aftermath of COVID and in the longer term. While this list is certainly not exhaustive, we provide the following suggestions for ongoing social support for and inclusion of international students
UNITED STATES
The PIE News: “Perceived barriers” driving prospective students away from US
While the US higher education community has overcome many of the political and Covid-19 related challenges facing the international education sector, a great deal of “perceived” barriers remain for prospective students considering the US, which could be detrimental for recruitment efforts in the future.
JAPAN
Japan eases restrictions for international travellers, including students
Japan is opening its borders again to international students with visas for longer-term studies. The number of daily arrivals is limited for the time being with greater emphasis given to key sending markets in Asia.
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ENZ’s WeChat mini programme supports Chinese students
There are currently more than 12,000 Chinese international students studying in New Zealand, and over 2,000 studying in China with New Zealand providers. Together, these groups make up 36 percent of NZ’s overall international student population.
NauMai NZ was launched in May 2019. Since then, the digital platform has had more than 9,000 students sign up, and it continues to support our international students as a key source of timely information during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NauMai is a valuable tool for international students, but analysing usage over the past 12 months reveals most Chinese students are not engaging with the platform. These students instead prefer to interact within WeChat, a Chinese social media platform with over a billion daily users.
To better support our international Chinese students while they are in New Zealand, ENZ has launched an alternative “mini programme” within the WeChat environment.
ENZ Student Experience Advisor Faymie Li explains how it will make it easier for Chinese students to engage with NauMai’s content. “The NauMai NZ WeChat mini programme will better serve our Chinese student population in New Zealand for two simple reasons: it’s on a platform that they are more familiar with and frequently use, and it’s in their language."
As well as providing students with useful information, the mini programme will also provide a platform for students to engage with each other. Students will be able to share their New Zealand life and study experience and provide peer support to others.
ENZ is hosting our first mini programme livestream with the theme ‘how to spend your summer in New Zealand’ on 28 October.
Know students who use WeChat? They can sign up for our first livestream and start exploring the mini programme by searching ‘新西兰留学生活指南NauMai NZ’ or by scanning the QR code below.
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From the CE: Manaakitanga in the time of coronavirus
New Zealand was the first country in the world to introduce the Code for the Pastoral Care of International Students. Regulated by NZQA, the code requires all signatories to ensure international students at their place of study are well-informed, safe and healthy.
New Zealand’s education providers have exceeded the expectations of this important responsibility in 2020. Everyone from teachers to international offices to homestay parents have done their bit to make sure our international students, so far away from home, were looked after during the COVID-19 lockdowns and beyond.
New Zealand has a well-deserved reputation for being a warm and welcoming destination. It is crucial that we continue this responsibility of care over the coming summer break when many students would have returned home, under normal circumstances.
To support this goal, ENZ has launched a new programme of activity: Tū Ngātahi, which calls for us to ‘stand together’. ENZ has created the programme to enable our international education community to express support for our international students.
The central imagery of Tū Ngātahi is the pounamu (greenstone) carved into a pikorua (twist). This design is a symbol of cultures joining in friendship and supporting one another.
You may have heard ENZ’s Paul Irwin, General Manager – Partnerships and Marketing, speaking with Radio New Zealand about Tū Ngātahi this week. The story also included perspectives from international students currently in New Zealand, who plan to make the most of their stay over summer.
We encourage New Zealand’s education providers, student associations and more to show their support for international students with the Tū Ngātahi resources (video, graphics, email footers and more), which you can find on the ENZ BrandLab.
Alongside Tū Ngātahi, ENZ is currently running the Summer in NZ campaign. Aimed at international students currently in New Zealand, this campaign will assist students who, given current border settings, must make tough decisions as the end of the academic year nears. You can explore this campaign on the new Summer in NZ NauMai NZ pages.
On Saturday, 31 October, the team will present the inaugural ‘Your Great Kiwi Summer’ virtual fair, where education providers and regional development agencies will share tips and information on how to make the most of the summer break. There is still time for students to register, so please encourage your students to sign up if they haven’t already.
Thank you again to everyone who has supported an international student this year. Our manaakitanga is what these students will remember in the years to come.
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
Chief Executive
Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao
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First NZ-India Education Week maintains key education connections
The schedule of online events included panel discussions, specialist masterclasses, events with alumni, a showcase of New Zealand’s Māori culture, and a daily trivia quiz.
Attendees included the New Zealand High Commissioner His Excellency David Pine, New Zealand and Indian academics, international staff at education providers, agents, Indian media, and government officials from both countries. ENZ’s India Team saw high audience and student engagement at the events, thanks to the online platform’s Q&A and chat functions.
The NZ-India Education Week is part of the New Zealand Government’s Recovery Plan for the international education sector under the third stream, ‘Transforming to a more sustainable future state’.
“The NZ-India Education Week helped us build relationships with India’s education leaders, and keep a New Zealand education experience in the hearts and minds of our Indian students,” ENZ Regional Director – Asia, John Laxon, says.
Indian students are the second-largest cohort of New Zealand’s overall international student population, behind only China. Pre COVID, they had also been the fastest growing international student cohort at New Zealand universities.
The NZ-India week builds on a number of internationalisation initiatives at a government level that will provide a platform for further growth beyond COVID-19. In February 2020 former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters attended the inauguration of the second NZ Centre in the world at Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, supported by all eight New Zealand universities.
“We are committed to investing in New Zealand’s education links with India for the long-term,” John says. “Indian students enrich our communities and our education institutions are partnering on world-leading research projects. With all the disruption caused this year by COVID-19, it’s very important to us that we continue to strengthen our bonds with India.”
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Getting started with chatbots
ENZ is the only country in the world that uses a chatbot to market to prospective international students.
Tohu is a helpful little bot that sits on Study in New Zealand, NauMai NZ, and the Study in New Zealand Facebook page.
It answers questions on everything from applying for a visa to what you can do for fun in New Zealand. It gives prospective students an answer to most of their questions immediately, freeing up ENZ’s social media team so they can focus on other projects.
ENZ’s Director of Planning, Jamie Crump, has developed a whitepaper with ENZ’s chatbot agency partner, Theta, which lays out a framework for developing a chatbot.
The five-step framework draws on Jamie’s Master of Technological Futures report, and is based on ENZ’s development of Tohu.
Because ENZ staff can train Tohu on new information at any time, the bot is a versatile tool in our social engagement team’s toolbox. So far, Tohu has been utilised in the Ask New Anything campaign, and has most recently learnt new answers on the COVID-19 situation in New Zealand.
“Prior to Tohu, with a social media team of two, it could take up to 24 hours for someone to get a response to their question. Now they can get an immediate response, and we know that Tohu can answer more than 80 percent of the most common questions,” ENZ International Social Media Manager, Nicole Baird, says.
“So the team can spend time answering the specific questions, and doing more of the strategic things for our Facebook channel, rather than answering the same straightforward questions repeatedly.”
Jamie’s initial research revealed that many people already like engaging with a chatbot, and that more and more consumers are using chatbots as a way of finding out information. For example, 48 percent of people would rather connect with a company via live chat than any other means of contact.
Tohu is integrated with ENZ’s marketing database and automation software, Marketo. Instead of completing a form, students can sign up to the receive updates from Study In New Zealand or NauMai NZ. This feature also opens up possibilities for Tohu to become a more targeted, useful channel for prospective students.
“The logical next step is personalisation of the chat experience, and that’s something we’re looking forward to exploring with Theta,” Jamie says.
Read Get started with chatbots: A proven framework for chatbot implementation
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NZ-Japan Education ties stronger following digital ceremony
Together in an online ceremony with the Hokkaido Board of Education, ENZ strengthened the existing partnership between Hokkaido and New Zealand this week.
The agreement promotes collaborative opportunities in education through shared interests, including indigenous culture, primary industries and rugby. Areas of collaboration outlined in the agreement are student exchanges between high schools in New Zealand and Hokkaido, and the exchange of information on efforts to develop human resources which improves the educational environment and teaching methodology.
Continuing to build our international government-to-government relationships with agreements like this one is a current focus of ENZ, as part of the second stream of the Recovery Plan for international education.
The signing brought together Superintendent of the Hokkaido Board of Education, Toshihiro Kodama, and ENZ’s Chief Executive, Grant McPherson, and was witnessed by New Zealand’s Ambassador to Japan, Hamish Cooper.
ENZ Senior Market Manager – Japan, Misa Kitaoka, was online to facilitate, translating between parties. “Despite the ongoing challenges of COVID, this online signing still managed to convey a celebratory atmosphere with ENZ’s waiata and the Hokkaido students’ taiko performance. The timing of the partnership could not be better after Japan’s successful hosting of the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the Japanese Government’s official recognition of Ainu as the indigenous people of Japan, all of which will open new doors for education cooperation with Hokkaido and Japan.”
“While we wait for the border to reopen, we look forward to starting with online activities connecting Hokkaido and New Zealand schools,” she said.
Grant McPherson was delighted for ENZ to be hosting the signing ceremony that further strengthens the existing partnership between New Zealand and the Hokkaido Board of Education.
“I am especially appreciative of how committed New Zealand and Japan both remain to building our education relationship given the exceptionally challenging year that we have had.”
McPherson said that as everyone adapts to a new environment amid the global pandemic, it was important to think differently about the future being created. “It’s in this new context that we look forward to working together on our education cooperation arrangement. It is a significant milestone for Education New Zealand and one that will strengthen the partnership agreement between our governments.”
Since 2014, ENZ has facilitated opportunities for Hokkaido’s students and farmers to study in New Zealand on dairy scholarships, giving them the opportunity to experience one of our primary industry sectors first-hand.
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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
