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From the CE: Welcoming back our international students
Many of these students have travelled to New Zealand for the first time, leaving their families and friends behind to explore a New Zealand education experience. It’s a big deal for them, and for us. Normal student visa processing only just resumed a few weeks ago, and so most of the students are here thanks to the cohort processes that you supported, or as short-term visitors from visa-waiver countries with strong links to New Zealand.
Thank you for making them so welcome, and for sharing their stories through the media. Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao has been pleased to support these welcomes by providing Tū Ngātahi pins to share with the students. The pins were created to welcome and demonstrate our support for international students – Tū Ngātahi is a te Reo Māori phrase calling us to ‘stand together’. The Pikorua twist design is inspired by the pikopiko fern, whose fronds curl around one another, which is a symbol of the connection of cultures and the importance of friendship.
You can read about the recent international student welcome at Waitangi in this edition of E-News, and I’m looking forward to meeting students in Christchurch later this week.
Our 29th international education sector conference, NZIEC KI TUA 2022, finished on Friday – what a great event! There were some exceptional speakers, fascinating discussions, not to mention a few funny moments behind the scenes. The virtual conference, with its themes of Reflect, Reconnect and Renew broke previous records by attracting 1,065 attendees. Thank you to all of you who took part and helped make this such a successful event. All the sessions were recorded, and they will remain available to you on the event portal until 16 September 2022.
As I mentioned at the conference, ENZ has recently made some changes to our leadership team, to ensure we are well placed to work with you on the rebuild of international education. We now have two new roles in ENZ’s senior leadership team that are specifically focussed on meeting your needs as a sector: GM Sector Engagement, and GM Sector Services. The newly appointed GM Sector Engagement is Wendy Kerr, who will join us in October. Sahinde Pala, who will already be well known to many of you from her work at ENZ since 2016, has been appointed GM Sector Services. In addition, the role of Ed Tuari as our Manukura - Chief Advisor Māori is now also part of the senior leadership team. This change reflects the importance of our work to transform the understanding of international education and ensure the education system delivers with, and for, Māori in the international context. Wendy and Sahinde are both profiled in this edition of E-News, and you can see the full senior leadership team on our website here.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the work done by our international teams every day around the world, on behalf of New Zealand’s international education sector. There are numerous stories in E-News each month that provide a glimpse of some of their activities. In this issue, you can read about new scholarships, digital exchanges, workshops for education agents, education cooperation agreements, and more.
He rā ki tua
Better days are coming
Ngā mihi,
Grant McPherson
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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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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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New initiatives to keep New Zealand education dream alive in Viet Nam
Earlier this year, ENZ asked study providers how we can support the visibility of New Zealand schools who usually operate in the Vietnamese market.
Two proposals have now been selected.
The first will fund Year 10 students from five Manawatū schools to undertake a customised version of AFS’ Global Competence Certificate (GCC).
AFS is partnering with Massey University to facilitate the programme and each New Zealand school will partner with a Vietnamese school from TTC Education, ENZ’s private school network partner with over 18,000 students.
Students from both countries will join weekly virtual workshops facilitated by Massey University – in the last four weeks of New Zealand’s school year – focused on developing the students’ lifelong global ‘power skills’ and providing them with an opportunity to interact and connect directly with their overseas student counterparts.
CEDA and Palmerston North City Council will offer scholarships for up to 25 Manawatū students to participate in the Vietnam GCC, while ENZ will fund the same number of students to participate in Viet Nam.
The second initiative will support the development and implementation of a digital marketing strategy for 14 New Zealand schools. This initiative, which is being delivered by Lightpath Consulting Group, will include dedicated in-market representation, market advice, agent engagement support and a customised Vietnamese website.
The activities will help build a strong, in-market sector presence while borders are closed. They will enable the schools and ENZ to engage through tailored digital marketing programmes to boost the reputation of New Zealand schools with Vietnamese audiences.
Viet Nam is an important market for New Zealand schools. In 2018, it was one of our only source markets to record student growth on the year before, with 39 percent more Vietnamese students choosing to study here.
“Education New Zealand remains committed to supporting New Zealand schools’ activity in Viet Nam and given the current challenges presented by COVID-19, we believe that supporting in-market representation models will maintain visibility in a market which has demonstrated continued growth for the sector,” ENZ Regional Director – Asia, John Laxon, says.
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