Search

Showing 10 of 7339 results

  • SM corp

  • 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.

  • 2324 101 Response to OIA request

  • lifeswap berlin 6

  • sister cities pic edited

  • Yoobee

  • DSC 1317

  • Chinas Minister for Education His Excellency Huai Jinpeng delivers the Country of Honour keynote address at conference

  • thailand

  • Meet the Team: Lisa Futschek

    Hi Lisa. Could you please outline your own role and the role of the International team?

    ENZ’s International Team delivers on the strategies our organisation sets to best position New Zealand as an education partner in our key offshore markets. It’s a two-way flow with our skilled offshore teams not only delivering a vast array of in-market initiatives, but also providing crucial market intel contributing to the setting of our core strategies and objectives.

    We ask a lot of our teams. Not only do they bring crucial language skills and a deep understanding of the cultural context, but they are also marketers, event organisers, Government-to-Government experts, relationship managers, skilled communicators and more. They need to be as comfortable talking with a Minister as they are with a student seeking an education in New Zealand.

    My role is to set the direction, to coach, mentor, energise, and to ensure that the output of our team plays its part in realising the overall vision of our organisation.

    How is the COVID-19 pandemic impacting your team’s work?

    The impacts of COVID-19 on the International Team’s work have been wide-ranging.

    The first order of things related to the closed borders and the need to cancel, postpone or re-imagine the large number of in-market events that had been planned.

    At the same time, there was a square focus for both ENZ’s off- and onshore teams to support the experience of those international students who remained in New Zealand or had been unable to get here. This included everything from their access to online learning, accommodation needs, physical and emotional wellbeing, support through hardship, visa queries and connection to repatriation flights.

    Throughout all of this, the offshore teams have been heavily engaged in communicating with a full range of stakeholders – students, parents, agents, industry partners, NZ Inc partners and governements – to keep them abreast of developments and to assist in responding to their wide-ranging information needs. 

    Can you tell me a bit about your own professional background?

    I’ve always been interested in international relations. I spent 18 years as a career diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), living and working in Chile, Germany and New York City.

    Through those 18 years at MFAT, I gained an understanding of New Zealand’s place in the world. There is no doubt that we punch above our weight. Positioning our nation globally through diplomacy is highly rewarding but it is also a long game.

    What I have found particularly satisfying since joining Education New Zealand in 2013 is the short gap between effort and result. We get to see very quickly the impact of our work on thousands upon thousands of people whose lives have been transformed by  a New Zealand education. I’m proud to be able to play a part in that.

    People might think that diplomacy is something which happens exclusively at embassies and at a Government level. But in fact, education diplomacy is part of our organisaton’s DNA. And through our alumni we have created an enormous international network of ambassadors for both a New Zealand education as well as everything else our country has to offer.

    What do you do in your spare time? Can you tell us about the choir you sing in?

    Yes! I’ve been in a local choir called the Doubtful Sounds since 2014. It’s wonderful. It’s complete “me time”.  It’s away from work, it’s away from the family, it’s an escape from the normal preoccupations of life. I find it completely joyful.

    I love making music with other people. We’re not too serious; it’s not an auditioned choir and reading music is not a pre-requisite. I love the fact there’s a whole range of people involved. Our choir master Bryan Crump (of RNZ fame) is a brilliant musician and arranger of music, and is very active in getting us in public. We sing at  weddings, flash mobs in the street, the Fringe Festival, slots on RNZ. We sang last year in the Wright’s Hill gun implacement and at this year’s Newtown Fair. 

What's in it for me?