From the CE: New Zealand higher education in the spotlight

Kia ora koutou,  

Over the past few weeks, I have been abroad in both China and the United States promoting New Zealand education.  

In late May I was delighted to attend my first NAFSA conference in San Diego, California. NAFSA is the world’s largest international education conference and this year it attracted over 8,000 attendees. ENZ supported the University of Auckland, Auckland University of Technology, University of Waikato, Massey University, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Canterbury, University of Otago and Whitecliffe College at the New Zealand Pavilion. Our collective involvement with such a significant event provided us with a strong platform to showcase New Zealand’s unique education offering to a global audience. 

Following NAFSA, I travelled to Connecticut to meet representatives of the Mashantucket Pequot nation, during which I had a useful exchange on indigenous-to-indigenous education and engagement. It was a genuine privilege to be hosted by this small, resilient tribe, into which my whānau has whakapapa links. 

Last week, I joined the Prime Minister’s Trade Mission to China alongside education delegates from UP Education, Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, and Victoria University of Wellington.  

The Trade Mission was an opportunity to support the tertiary education sector’s engagement with China which is our largest source market of international students. The visit also reinforced at the Government and sector level our strong bilateral education relationship.  

One of our key deliverables was an education event to promote New Zealand’s reputation for world-leading research and high-quality education at Fudan University in Shanghai. Fudan is one of China’s most prestigious universities and while there we took the opportunity to celebrate 20 years of the New Zealand-China Tripartite Partnership Programme. A wonderful outcome from the event was the signing of an MoU between Victoria University of Wellington and Fudan University that will see the universities resume student exchanges and pursue research cooperation in public health, biotechnology and climate science. 

In Beijing, we hosted New Zealand Education Connect and showcased New Zealand as a study destination to our key partners, and alongside Prime Minister Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, we officially launched New Zealand’s Country of Honour campaign for the China Annual Conference and Expo for International Education (CACIE) which will be taking place later this year. 

Finally, this month the results of the latest QS World University Rankings 2026 were published. New Zealand ranked first in the English-speaking world and fifth globally for the overall quality of its higher education.  

The 2026 results see New Zealand universities improve across academic reputation, citation per faculty, and international student indicators. New Zealand also ranks the highest globally in terms of employment outcomes among key English-speaking study destinations.  

This is a fantastic result for our universities and reinforces New Zealand’s position as a high-quality and welcoming international education destination.  

Whāia te mātauranga hei oranga mō koutou 

Seek after learning for the sake of your wellbeing 

Ngā mihi nui, 

Amanda Malu 
Chief Executive