Search

Showing 10 of 7339 results

  • Feedback from education agents opens up conversation on how ENZ can better support them

    Over half (57 per cent) of those surveyed are members of the ENZ Recognised Agency (ENZRA) programme.

    The survey, a cross-team ENZ initiative, was a useful opportunity to open up a conversation with agents and to continue to support them while borders remain closed.

    Over 40 per cent of agents surveyed said that that 75 to 100 per cent of their business activities had changed or reduced due to the pandemic. Agents also reported experiencing a reduction of staff, closed branches and transitioning to fully remote operations.

    ENZ-supported webinars, online and hybrid events were most valuable to agents, followed closely by digital collateral and marketing material, support for student-facing activities, B2B events with education providers and training.

    On training needs, 60 per cent of agents surveyed said that they would like to receive training on student visa application processes, 50 per cent were keen on hearing about New Zealand education providers and their offering, while 40 per cent were keen for more professional development training.

    Videos, templates (including banners and PowerPoint presentations), student testimonials and brochures were reported to be the marketing tools that agents find most useful.

    ENZ’s Manager – Education Agents, Geneviève Rousseau Cung, says the survey is a key component of ENZ’s agent engagement plan as part of the Government’s Recovery Plan for International Education.

    “Insights from the survey will allow ENZ to develop activities, tailored communications and training initiatives that are best aligned with agent needs, which in turn, will also inform and result in better outcomes for education providers.

    “Seeing how the agent engagement plan is linked closely to the longer-term recovery of international education, it is crucial that we check in with our agents on a regular basis,” Geneviève says.

    The current plan has three areas of focus – supporting the ENZ Recognised Agencies Activity Fund in New Zealand and offshore with marketing initiatives, driving the agent engagement plan through a range of initiatives, and ongoing recognition of the role of education agents.

    For enquiries:

    Keep an eye out for the full results from the Agent Survey in the next issue of ENZ’s The Insight Story, due out in early May.

  • ENZRA Application Form 2019

  • Innovative ENZ universities’ partnership a key part of sector’s COVID-19 recovery and rebuild

    Education New Zealand and New Zealand’s eight universities have announced a new partnership with UK-based qualifications provider the University Consortium (NCUK) that will allow students from more than 30 countries to begin a New Zealand university qualification without leaving home.

    The partnership will play an important role in implementing the Government’s COVID-19 Strategic Recovery Plan for International Education.

    ENZ Chief Executive Grant McPherson said the Pathway initiative is key to the shift in New Zealand’s international education approach that will make the sector more resilient over the next few years.

    “It is a tangible demonstration of New Zealand providing flexible and diverse education options for students that will enhance sector’s resilience and sustainability in the face of global change,” Grant said.

    This agreement is part of a broader ENZ Global New Zealand Education Pathways initiative, through which ENZ is extending its activities to enable students to connect with blended, online, digital and full qualification study options. 

    In support of this initiative, ENZ has extended its Study in New Zealand website to enable all New Zealand quality-assured education providers to add global delivery sites over time, where students undertake learning for a qualification offshore.

    The pathways initiative enables international students to begin study in their home countries towards Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at any of New Zealand’s eight universities. It leverages NCUK’s quality-assured global network of 81 recognised Study Centres.

    Students commencing the pathway in 2021 could start their study either online or in New Zealand, in 2022 or 2023, once they complete one of three relevant NCUK pathway qualifications – a one-year international foundation year programme to enter an undergraduate degree in New Zealand; or a one-year international year one programme, equivalent to one year’s study towards a business or engineering Bachelor’s degree; or a pre-Master’s programme towards a Master’s degree in New Zealand. 

    All New Zealand universities are supporting this latest partnership, committing at least $300,000 per annum across the sector in dedicated NCUK scholarships. Universities New Zealand has recognised the NCUK Foundation Year programme as being equivalent to University Entrance.

    Universities New Zealand Chief Executive Chris Whelan said New Zealand’s universities were committed to developing innovative solutions that connect New Zealand to students globally.

    “The partnership will give students flexibility to work towards New Zealand university undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications while borders are closed.

    “International education is a critical component of building the quality of our education offering – specifically in areas such as research and development. The ‘team New Zealand’ approach taken by our universities will enable us to better attract students who are sought after by universities all over the world,” Whelan said.

    ENZ General Manager – Partnerships and Marketing, Paul Irwin, said the initiative also has strong potential to be extended across the wider New Zealand education sector.

    “This has great potential to be developed for the wider New Zealand education sector with diverse study options such as new blended, online, digital and full qualifications.”

    NCUK Study Centres will start promoting pathway qualifications to study at New Zealand universities from December for the next cohort intake in March 2021. 

    The offshore pathways initiative has involved nearly all ENZ’s teams - both onshore and offshore – including International, Industry, Marketing (Digital and Brand) and Communications.

    The Pathways partnership will help develop a pipeline of international students to study in New Zealand when the time is right. The partnership is part of the Government’s Recovery Plan for international education, which invests $10 million over three years towards innovative products and modes of education delivery that will enable the international education sector to not only recover from the shock of COVID-19, but transform to a more diversified, sustainable future state.

    Further information on the New Zealand Global Education Pathways initiative can be found at http://studyinnewzealand.govt.nz/global-pathways.

  • Welcoming ENZ’s new Manager – Agents

    Dan photo

    As Manager – Agents, Dan will be responsible for relaunching the ENZRA programme and engaging with agents and providers.

    Areas of focus in his role will include reviewing our online training for agents, developing ongoing communications to agents, reviewing marketing and other support provided to ENZRA agents, evaluation of agent performance, and ensuring agents are setting the right expectations for students to have a positive experience.

    Dan’s new role will see him joining ENZ’s Student Marketing team in Wellington.

    Over the last two years, Dan has worked with Immigration New Zealand in India and was a key contributor to ENZ’s rebalancing the market, lifting the quality of student applications and agent performance. Dan has worked closely with ENZ’s India team, attending education fairs and other education events, and also has strong industry relationships. 

    Dan has also worked offshore for Immigration New Zealand in South Africa, Thailand and Singapore so he brings a strong understanding of a range of markets and the role of NZ Inc offshore. His in-market experience, passion for the education sector and understanding of education agents will be a huge asset to ENZ in his new role.

    Dan officially joins the team on 9 October.

  • Evolution of ThinkNew

    Almost four years after the launch of the New Zealand Education story, there is a need to further sharpen our value proposition for growth and impact.

    ENZ Director – Student Experience Kaylee Butters said that while ThinkNew continues to be recognised as a brand leader in the education destination field, the brand awareness of New Zealand education is still low in many of our target markets.

    “It is important that we communicate the distinctive and credible position New Zealand holds as a study abroad destination and Education New Zealand has invested over the past two years in brand research that has helped us to better understand this. 

    “It was a great opportunity to share this research journey with conference delegates at NZIEC and to get feedback on our direction for ThinkNew. We discussed the importance of ensuring we don’t undersell the New Zealand experience, especially for partners such as the English language sector.

    “We also discussed the need to ensure our education story works both here in New Zealand and for partners focussed on offshore delivery.”

    The next step will be the development of a revised brand strategy which will help us move to a distinctive position in the market that reflects our high quality education offering and New Zealand experience. 

  • Hero8

  • Simone Grilli

  • 27

  • November update from Immigration New Zealand

    Update on Student Visa processing*  

    Since New Zealand’s international borders reopened in August 2022, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has received 12,259 student visa applications from international students outside New Zealand. We have decided 7,731 of these applications, with more than half of our decisions made in under four weeks and almost all decisions (95%) made within eight weeks.   

    *Figures current as at 10pm on 19 November 2022.  

    Help us process student visa applications quickly 

    There are common mistakes which can slow down student visa processing. Please make sure applicants supply all required documents when they submit their online visa applications. Checklists on the INZ website the INZ website can help students gather all the information they need for their application.  

    All documents should be: 

    • clear scans (not blurry or missing text) 
    • uploaded separately and under the correct category.  

    Also, a reminder that overseas applicants do not need to use the Approval in Principle process. Their applications are processed faster if they pay their tuition fees upfront and include the provider’s receipt with their applications.   

    Contacting us  

    Our immigration officers are processing visa applications as quickly as possible. Students and their representatives should only contact individual immigration officers when their application is being assessed and pending a decision.  

    For any questions not about a specific in progress application, there are other ways to find the information you are looking for. Check the INZ website first as it has a lot of useful information, including the student checklists. Education providers and licensed immigration advisors can also contact INZ through their established email channels.  

    Pathway visas  

    An increasing number of people are incorrectly applying for Pathway Student Visas, which can cause processing delays.  

    A Pathway Student Visa is for international students who want to study up to three consecutive programmes of study with pathway visa approved education providers on a single visa, or they wish to study a multi-year programme with a pathway visa approved education provider.  

    Students should only apply for a Pathway Visa if they: 

    • have a letter of support from a Pathway education provider (or joint letter if their study is with more than one provider) stating they support the student’s pathway application  
    • have an offer of place for each programme of study, and 
    • can demonstrate they have sufficient and readily available maintenance funds for their first year on the intended pathway and that they can fund any further years of study as per their intended study path; and 
    • have paid (or have sufficient funds to pay) for a minimum of the first year or first programme tuition fees, whichever is applicable. 

    Applicants should only answer ‘Yes’ to the online student visa application form question “Are you applying for a Pathway Student Visa?” if they meet the criteria for a Pathway Student Visa. If they are unsure whether a course meets these requirements, they should talk to their education provider(s). 

    A screenshot of the student visa application form Pathway Student Visa question 

     

    If students apply for a Pathway Student Visa incorrectly, their applications will take longer to process as there will be additional tasks for the immigration officer assessing their application.

    Pathway visas | Immigration New Zealand

    Family travelling with a student

    If family members (such as  parents)  intend to visit New Zealand briefly to help a student settle into their life and study here, they may need to apply for an NZeTA (if from a visa waiver country) or a General Visitor Visa (if they are from a visa required country).

    Currently there is high demand for General Visitor Visas to travel to New Zealand. If a General Visitor Visa is needed for travel in early 2023, we encourage people to apply for this as soon as possible. Applicants should state in the “Purpose of visit” section of their application that they wish to travel with the student to New Zealand and include the name of the student.

    Visit New Zealand | Immigration New Zealand

     

    Our next E-News update from INZ will be in 2023, we wish everyone a happy holiday season.

     

     

     

     

     

  • A message to our students and their families

    Our focus at this time is on supporting the families and communities affected by the attack and making sure people feel safe and secure – public safety is the top priority for the New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Government. 

    People everywhere in New Zealand are coming together to ensure that New Zealand remains an inclusive, caring country.

    The attack is an assault on the values of New Zealanders – values of international friendship, tolerance and kindness. International education has a powerful role to play in this, and we value the diversity and perspectives all our international friends bring to New Zealand.

    The following services are available, and we encourage you to access them if required:

    New Zealand is committed to making sure all international students feel safe and well, and that the country remains a welcoming and open society:

    • The New Zealand Government’s pastoral care requirements are world leading and set high expectations for the support of international students. The requirements ensure education providers are providing support, information and counselling services. Also, that students are safe and properly cared for.

    • New Zealand’s International Student Wellbeing Strategy includes a focus on health and wellbeing, and inclusion, and funds initiatives that support these aims.

    • The New Zealand International Education Strategy 2018-2030 is focussed on delivering excellent education and student experience, and ensuring international students are welcome and safe.

    Noho ora mai (stay well, look after yourself).

     

What's in it for me?